Some of the immigrants who had been towed aboard the Maria Drink sailboat to Dubrovnik's Gruz Port were transferred to a building of the Caritas relief organisation of the Dubrovnik diocese on Tuesday morning, the head of the County Protection and Rescue Centre, Frano Skokandic, said.
Skokandic said that the other immigrants would be transferred to the Caritas building as well because it could take in more people.
The director of Caritas in Dubrovnik, Don Robert Cibaric, said that Caritas had offered its assistance because its warehouse was in good condition to accommodate the immigrants.
The head of the County Public Health Institute, Mate Lakic, said that one of the immigrants had been hospitalised while the others were in good health.
Skokandic said they were still awaiting instructions from the ministries of the interior and foreign affairs as to what to do with the immigrants.
The sailboat, with 65 immigrants from Somalia, Egypt, Syria and Afghanistan aboard, was en route from Greece to Italy when its engine broke down. They were assisted by the Croatian Coast Guard off the southern island of Mljet on Sunday and agreed to be towed to the port of Gruz.
