Spain to pick up migrants stranded off coast of Italy

SPAIN is to send a warship to pick up 80 migrants stranded for more than two weeks on a charity rescue vessel off the coast of Italy after some of them threw themselves into the sea in a desperate bid to reach land.

The migrants will be collected and taken to Majorca, a journey of 600 miles that will take at least three days.

The Open Arms rescue ship has been in limbo at sea for 19 days, with its crew warning that conditions are untenable as tensions grow over access to shade and the vessel’s two lavatories.

Last night, the situation was further complicated when an Italian prosecutor ordered that the migrants disembark in Sicily.

Luigi Patronaggio also ordered the vessel preventively seized after inspecting the boat, which is operated by a Spanish NGO, “given the difficult situation on board,” a judicial source said.

Since Thursday, the vessel has been anchored a short distance from the tiny island of Lampedusa. At least a dozen migrants jumped into the sea yesterday and tried to swim towards the island.

The boat was banned from disembarking on Lampedusa by tough laws closing ports to migrants and refugees introduced by Matteo Salvini, Italy’s interior minister and the head of the hard-right League party.

The warship Audaz will arrive in three days, Spain said. “The government … considers this to be the most adequate solution that will allow a resolution of the humanitarian emergency,” it added.

After the offer, Mr Salvini boasted of his policy. “The coherence and strength of Italy has paid off. We are no longer the refugee camp of Europe,” he said.