Italy sends ships to take migrants to Spain

Italy has dispatched two ships to help take 629 migrants stuck off its shores to Spain after the new populist government refused them safe port in an attempt to force Europe to share the burden of unrelenting arrivals.

The rescue ship Aquarius has been stuck since Saturday in international waters off the coast of Italy and Malta, both of which have refused it entry. The ship is carrying 629 migrants including 123 unaccompanied minors, 11 children and six pregnant women.

Aid group Médecins Sans Frontières, which operates the Aquarius with SOS Mediterranee, urged Italy and Malta to reconsider their refusal to allow the stranded migrants landfall and then safe passage by other means to Spain, which has responded to the plight with an offer of safe harbour.

0 Migrants aboard a Italian Coastguard boat as they are transferred from the SOS Mediterranee’s Aquarius ship to Italian ships to continue the journey to Spain