Spain will take in stranded migrant vessel, PM says 629 migrants aboard rescue boat as Italy-Malta standoff continues

Spain said on Monday that it will take in a boat stranded in the Mediterranean sea with 629 migrants aboard after Italy and Malta refused to let the vessel dock in their ports.

“It is our obligation to help to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe and to offer a safe port to these people,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s office said in a statement, adding that the boat, the Aquarius, would be allowed to dock in Valencia.

The migrants, including pregnant women and scores of children, were saved on Saturday and are now stuck aboard the French NGO ship Aquarius, which is currently between Malta and Sicily waiting for a secure port.

Italy’s hard-line Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, head of the far-right party which campaigned on a vow to stop the mass influx of migrants from Africa, blocked the ship, operated by SOS Mediterranee and Doctors without Borders, over the weekend.

The migrants appear to have become the first subjects of the new Italian government’s tough immigration stance.

“Saving lives at sea is a duty, but transforming Italy into an enormous refugee camp is not,” Salvini said on Facebook on Monday.

“Italy is done bowing its head and obeying. This time there’s someone saying no.”

By law, it will be difficult for Italy to refuse the boat a safe haven, as the Italian Coast Guard coordinated the rescue with the French NGO organization.

The migrants were rescued in several separate operations in the Mediterranean over 24 hours on Saturday and Sunday, all of which had been carried out at the request of the Italian authorities.

The vessel was told to ask Malta to provide a disembarkation port, but Malta has also refused.

Malta on Sunday reiterated its refusal to accept the ship, ignoring calls from Rome, saying international law requires the migrants be taken to Italian ports, nearest to their rescue.

Salvini, whose far-right League Party’s tough line on immigration won it a record number of votes in March’s election, has promised to deport half a million illegal migrants from Italy.

In a joint statement with Danilo Toninelli, minister in charge of the Italian Coast Guard, Salvini on Sunday insisted that Malta “cannot continue to look the other way when it comes to precise international conventions on the protection of human life”.

Malta’s government replied saying Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had spoken to his Italian counterpart Giuseppe Conte and underlined “that Malta is acting in full conformity with its international obligations”.

Using Twitter on Monday, Muscat added: “We are concerned at Italy authorities’ directions given to Aquarius on high seas. They manifestly go against international rules, and risk creating a dangerous situation for all those involved.”

Malta allows a small number of emergency evacuations from rescue ships, but has always refused large numbers.

The small island nation with fewer than a half million inhabitants said it already takes in more refugees per capita than Italy. Italy has taken in more than 600,000 boat migrants since 2014.

EU rules mean migrants must apply for asylum in the European country where they first arrive, putting pressure on Italy and Greece, the entry points for hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia since 2015.

The summer of 2016 saw a surge in mass drownings in the Mediterranean as Europe’s worst migration crisis since World War II peaked with hundreds of thousands of people fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East and elsewhere.

The United Nations says at least 785 migrants have died crossing the sea so far this year.