Migrant boat in limbo as medical cases evacuated
ROME: Italy has evacuated a handful of medical cases from a Spanish migrant rescue ship off the coast of Lampedusa, as the boat remained in limbo yesterday despite a European deal to take in 134 people remaining onboard.
Three migrants who suffered “medical complications which require specialised care” and an escort were brought to the southern Italian island of Lampedusa late on Thursday, Spanish charity Proactiva Open Arms said on Twitter.
“All of the people on board need to disembark urgently. For humanity,” Proactiva Open Arms added.
This is the umpteenth standoff between a charity vessel rescuing migrants making the perilous journey across the Mediterranean and Italy’s far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, but this time set against the background of a political crisis in Rome.
Thursday saw sparring between Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and Salvini, who last week pulled his party’s support from the ruling coalition in the hope of toppling the 14-monthold government.
Mr Salvini’s anti-immigrant League party has been squabbling with coalition partner the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) over a host of issues.
“France, Germany, Romania, Portugal, Spain and Luxembourg have told me that they are ready to welcome the migrants,” Mr Conte said in an open letter to Mr Salvini, who has sought to bar all charity rescue vessels from entering Italian waters.
In a distinct change of tone since the coalition disintegrated last week, Mr Conte slammed what he called Mr Salvini’s “obsessive focus” on an immigration policy reduced to the phrase “closed ports”.
Mr Salvini has taken a hard line against migrants rescued at sea being brought to Italy, which he says bears an unfair burden as the first port of call for refugees from several countries.