AN NGO refugee rescue ship carrying 125 people is bound for France after several Mediterranean nations ignored its calls for help for five days.

The Alan Kurdi, operated by German charity Sea Eye, saved the lives of 133 people when it picked them up from three separate boats in the central Mediterranean at the weekend.

Since then, the authorities in Malta, Italy, Libya, France and Germany — under whose flag the ship sails — have failed to provide the Alan Kurdi with a port to disembark the refugees.