Migrant boat carrying 629 arrives in Spain
VALENCIA: A migrant rescue boat turned away by Italy and Malta arrived at the Spanish port of Valencia yesterday, ending a gruelling voyage that has made it a symbol of Europe’s failure to agree on immigration.
Spain swooped to help 629 mainly sub-Saharan Africans on board the Aquarius last week, after Italy’s new government, asserting its anti-immigrant credentials, refused to let it dock.
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who took office two weeks ago, took the opportunity to show a more liberal stance.
But the plight of the Aquarius, run by Doctors Without Borders with Franco-German charity SOS Mediterranee, highlighted the European Union’s failure to agree on how to manage the huge influx of people fleeing poverty and conflict.
Officials here in white protective suits and masks greeted migrants as they disembarked and police started identifying them and processing their information.
The Aquarius arrived carrying 106 people rescued from unstable boats near Libya. The others had been transferred to an Italian coastguard vessel and a ship belonging to the Italian navy to make the journey safer.
The coastguard boat was the first to arrive, docking with 274 on board just after dawn.
Shouts and singing erupted on the ship as migrants saw Valencia on the horizon, journalist Gabriela Sanchez tweeted from a boat travelling alongside it.
A staff of 2,320, including volunteers, translators and health officials, were waiting on shore.
All seven pregnant women on board the ships will be immediately taken for check-ups, and all arrivals, including 123 minors, will receive psychological help.
Valencian government officials said none of the people who arrived on the first boat showed signs of serious illness, but many had suffered from crowded conditions and high temperatures in recent days.