THE Maltese and Italian authorities have refused to evacuate two pregnant women and seven others with severe burns from a refugee rescue ship in the central Mediterranean as the weather worsens.

A doctor from medical charity Emergency called both countries’ authorities on Sunday from the Open Arms, a rescue ship operated by a Spanish charity of the same name.

In a statement late on Monday night, Emergency said that the nine people were in need of immediate hospital treatment and that the two pregnant women — one of whom is just 18 — were both experiencing nausea and weakness.