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Ship with 87 migrants to dock in Spain Thursday: NGO
MADRID, Aug 8, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – An NGO ship which rescued 87 migrants off
Libya has been given the green light to dock in the southern Spanish port of
Algeciras on Thursday, the charity said, after Italy refused them entry.
The migrants, nearly all from Sudan including Darfur, had spent 50 hours
at sea on board an inflatable boat, without drinking water, and many suffered
burns from a mixture of fuel and salt water before they were rescued on
August 2.
After patrolling the waters off Libya for days looking for a port that
would accept it, the ship belonging to the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms
was finally allowed to come dock in Spain.
It will arrive on Thursday morning in Algeciras, across the bay from
Gibraltar, an NGO spokeswoman told AFP.
Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini had tweeted “anywhere but not
Italy” when the ship was looking for a port, repeating the new government’s
hardline policy closing the country to migrant rescue ships.
Spain once again stepped in even as it has overtaken Italy as the main
destination for migrants this year due to a crackdown by Libyan authorities
and Rome’s hardline approach.
More than 23,700 people have arrived in Spain by sea so far this year with
307 dying in the attempt, according to the International Organization for
Migration — more than during all of last year.
In June, the French NGO Aquarius ship, which had picked up 630 stranded
migrants, was allowed to dock in Spain’s eastern port of Valencia after Italy
and Malta refused access, precipitating a European political crisis.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1913 hrs