The French medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has suggested the seizing of one of its migrant rescue vessels in Italy may have been politically motivated.

MSF's ship, the Geo Barents, was seized on July 2 in Sicily, during an inspection which found 22 issues, the charity said in a statement.

The charity said it would tackle the concerns raised by the inspection, but added that inspections "represent an opportunity for authorities to pursue political objectives under the guise of administrative procedures."

It said Italian authorities had detained the vessels of non-governmental organizations on 13 occasions since 2019, four of which were currently detained.

Reuters said the Italian port authorities in Augusta declined to comment and the Transport and Infrastructure Ministry was not immediately available to comment.

The Geo Barents rescued more than 400 people, including dozens of unaccompanied children from rubber and wooden and fibreglass boats, during June, an MSF spokesman told Reuters.

So far this year, 866 migrant deaths have been recorded in the Mediterranean, according to the United Nations' migration agency. Most of them, 723, died on the central Mediterranean route where the MSF vessel was operating.