Spain to aid stranded migrants
Offer follows refusals by Italy and Malta
ROME: Spain has offered to take in a ship stranded in the Mediterranean with 629 migrants aboard after Italy and Malta refused to let the vessel dock, as an NGO raised fears for their safety due to deteriorating weather conditions.
Aid workers warned that fresh food and drink supplied by the Maltese navy to the Aquarius on Monday would only last until yesterday.
The migrants, including pregnant women and scores of children, were saved by French charity SOS Mediterranee on Saturday.
“This mobilisation is a very positive signal although reaching Spain would require several days of sailing. With so many people on board under deteriorating weather conditions could become critical,” the NGO said on Twitter late on Monday.
“Safety of all rescued people should remain the priority before all.”
Malta and the new populist government in Italy both refused to take the migrants in, accusing each other of failing to meet their obligations.
The refusal to accept the Aquarius in Italy was the first major anti-migrant move since far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini took office this month.
Mr Salvini tweeted “VICTORY” after two days of confrontation with Malta over the migrants ended with Spain’s offer of help.
The new Spanish administration headed by Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez agreed to allow the Aquarius to dock at its eastern port of Valencia, insisting that it was an “obligation” to do so.
But Spain’s new foreign minister, Josep Borrell, said the gesture was also intended to underline the need for solidarity from the entire bloc.
“Italy has received an enormous influx of migrants and so far other European countries haven’t shown much solidarity,” Mr Borrell told a news briefing in Madrid.
There was, he said, a “need for Europeans ... to face up, in a united and coordinated manner, to a problem that is a problem for all, and not just for Greece one year and for Italy the next”.
SOS Mediterranee director general Sophie Beau earlier warned that the ship would have to travel some 1,300 kilometres to reach the Spanish coast — which AFP estimates could take at least four days — and that yesterday “there will be no more food [on board] apart from energy biscuits”.
“The Aquarius has just received a resupply of 950 bottles of water, 800 packs of noodles and snacks from a vessel of the Maltese navy,” the SOS Mediterranee tweeted Monday, adding that this would only allow for one more meal yesterday.
Malta and Italy thanked Spain for stepping up, but maintained their dispute over who was responsible.
Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat tweeted his thanks to Mr Sanchez “for agreeing to accept the Aquarius after Italy violated international law and caused an impasse”.
He added: “It will be necessary to sit down and discuss how to prevent this kind of thing from happening in the future. This is a European issue.”