Open Arms ship refuses offer to dock in Spain

A migrant ship carrying more than 100 people rejected an offer yesterday from Spain to dock in Algeciras, with the NGO that operates the vessel citing the “extreme humanitarian emergency” on board.

Spanish aid charity Open Arms, whose ship is currently situated off Lampedusa, is in a standoff with the Italian government, who have refused to let the vessel dock.

The government allowed 27 unaccompanied minors to disembark on Saturday after Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte wrote to Interior Minister Matteo Salvini to demand that they be let off the boat.

Mr Salvini reluctantly allowed the minors to leave the ship, but the remaining 105 adults and two accompanied minors, most of them from Africa, are still on board.

“We do not accept Spain as a port to go to because we are in a state of extreme humanitarian emergency. What they need is to be disembarked now,” a spokeswoman for Open Arms said.

“It is unthinkable to navigate for six days; that is what it would take for us to arrive to Algeciras.”

Open Arms chief Oscar Camps said on Saturday that tensions were rising on board and fights breaking out that threatened the safety of everyone on the vessel.

Interior Minister of France Christophe Castaner said yesterday that his country had offered to take in 40 mi

Aid charity Open Arms said the migrant rescue ship is in a state of an ‘extreme humanitarian emergency’

grants from the boat, AFP reported.

Some of the migrants have resorted to jumping into the sea and trying to swim to Lampedusa.

In a video shared on Twitter by Mr Camps, several people wearing life jackets can be seen swimming towards the Italian island.

“We have been warning for days, desperation has its limits,” Mr Camps said in a tweet.

The migrants were picked up from the Mediterranean near Libya and have been stuck on the ship for 17 days in the standoff with the Italian interior minister.

Although Open Arms won a legal battle to enter Italian waters, the ship has remained off the coast because Mr Salvini prohibits humanitarian aid groups from docking.

The incident, and other similar refusals to allow NGO boats to dock, has highlighted a rift between Mr Salvini’s anti-migrant League and the Five Star Movement, which together govern Italy.

Mr Salvini hopes to end the coalition by winning a no-confidence vote and calling an election, in which he would run for prime minister.