More than 300 refugees from Syria on-board a ship rescued from Cyprus, refused to disembark, a ship's official said Thursday.

According to Kikis Vasiliou, managing director of the Salamis Cruise Lines, said the Syrian refugees refused to leave the ship and were insisting that they should be taken to Italy.

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During an interview at Limmasol port in the east Mediterranean islands, Vasiliou said they will hand over the refugees to the authorities and let them decide how to handle the situation.

The refugees are all in good health and are still in the cruise ship, Salamis Filoxania, that is docked at Limmasol port.

Cypriot authorities revealed that there were 345 refugees aboard the ship and 52 of them were children.

The refugees will be taken to Nicosia at a reception center, where they will be given medical attention and a place to stay until officials decide how they intend to resolve the situation.

After the cruise ship docked at the port, the Cypriot defense ministry has deployed medical volunteers and police officers at the dockside to look after the refugees.

Several Syrians disembarked from the ship and met with authorities to negotiate, according to Vasiliou.

But the negotiation ended with the group going back to the ship.

However, there were 65 refugees, mostly those who have children, who willingly left the ship, and were sent to the Kokkinotrimithia camp, near Nicosia.

Early Thursday, a small boat carrying a number of people sent a distress call amid strong winds and rough seas about 50 nautical miles from the town of Paphos in southwestern Cyprus.

According to the defense ministry of Cyprus, there were apparent "Syrian refugees" on the vessel.

Following the distress call, the cruise ship received a request to aid in the rescue operation from the Cyprus' Search and Rescue authorities.

Meanwhile, according to Vasiliou, the rescue operation has cost the cruise line hundreds of thousands of euros due to the cancelled cruise that was scheduled to leave for Haifa, Israel on Thursday.

Tagscyprus, syrian refugee, Cruise Ship