VALLETTA (Reuters) – Migrants aboard the charity rescue ship Aquarius will be transferred to a patrol boat in international waters and taken to Malta, which will then send them to four other European Union states, the Maltese government said on Tuesday.

“Malta and France again step up to solve migrant impasse,” Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said on Twitter. “With (French President) Emmanuel Macron and other leaders we want to show multilateral approach possible.”

The 58 migrants on the Aquarius “will be transferred onto a Malta armed forces asset in international waters” and brought to Malta before being sent onto four EU states, Muscat’s spokesman Kurt Farrugia tweeted.

(Reporting by Chris Scicluna, writing by Steve Scherer; Editing by Crispian Balmer)