• Live
    • Audio Only
  • google plus
  • facebook
  • twitter
News > Spain

Spain Allows Vessel With Over 300 Migrants to Dock

  • Libya, France, and Tunisia did not respond to the Proactiva Open Arms' requests for permission to dock.

    Libya, France, and Tunisia did not respond to the Proactiva Open Arms' requests for permission to dock. | Photo: Reuters

Published 28 December 2018
Opinion

Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez gave the authority for the ship to dock in Spain after Italy and Malta both refused it access.

On Friday, the Open Arms ship with more than 300 migrants on board has arrived in southern Spain after being rescued one week ago.

RELATED: 

'No Country Willing', Migrant Rescue Ship Seeks Safe Port

The charity vessel will dock at the port of Crinavis in San Roque following a rescue mission off the coast of Libya. Almost half of the ship’s occupants are minors, according to El Mundo.

Libya, France, and Tunisia did not respond to the Proactiva Open Arms' requests for permission to dock, Madrid explained. Spain previously allowed the Open Arms to dock three times in July and August.

The vessel operates between Libya and southern Europe.

Reports are that Red Cross workers will provide food, clothes and medical assistance to the migrants. On Monday, a sister ship had previously delivered blankets, medicine and food to the Open Arms. The migrants will also undergo a registration and identification process at the Temporary Care Center for Foreigners (CATE).

Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez gave the authority for the ship to dock in Spain after Italy and Malta both refused it access.

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini denied several ships, carrying migrants, access to the country’s ports, starting in summer, causing the charity to suspend multiple missions.

"Your rhetoric and your message will, like everything in this life, end," Proactiva Open Arms' founder Oscar Camps said to the Italian interior minister earlier this week. "But you should know that in a few decades your descendants will be ashamed of what you do and say."

The organization was accused, by Salvini, of being a "taxi service" for migrants.

Over 1,300 migrants have died while attempting to reach Italy or Malta since the beginning of the year, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Meanwhile, more than 56,000 migrants arrived in Spain by sea, 769 of whom have died, according to the monitor group.

Comment
0
Comments
Post with no comments.