Source:
https://scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/2151202/aquarius-migrants-step-ashore-spain-after-week-limbo
World/ Europe

Aquarius migrants step ashore in Spain after a week in limbo

Some of the migrants will be heading to France, if they meet Paris’s ‘criteria for asylum’

The Aquarius rescue ship arriving in Valencia, Spain. Photo: Reuters

The 630 migrants whose rescue sparked a migration row in Europe arrived in the Spanish port of Valencia on Sunday after a turbulent week that saw Italy and Malta turn them away.

The Aquarius, which has been at the centre of the crisis, sailed into Valencia harbour about 10:30am local time with 106 migrants on board.

The remaining migrants arrived on an Italian coastguard ship, the Datillo, and an Italian navy vessel, the Orione. They had been transferred from the Aquarius to make the voyage safer and more comfortable.

Medical staff wearing white overalls, gloves and masks went on board the three ships to carry out initial checks before the migrants disembarked.

Migrants sit on the deck of the Italian navy ship Orione at the port of Valencia. Photo: AFP
Migrants sit on the deck of the Italian navy ship Orione at the port of Valencia. Photo: AFP

They were welcomed by a team of more than 2,000 people, including 470 translators and 1,000 Red Cross volunteers who distributed blankets, clothes and hygiene kits.

High waves and winds had forced the convoy to take a detour on its 1,500-kilometre (930-mile) voyage to Spain.

“It is the end of a far too long voyage,” said the head of Medecins Sans Frontieres Spain, David Noguera, adding he was happy the migrants had arrived in a “safe place”.

Among the passengers are 450 men and 80 women – at least seven of them pregnant – as well as 89 adolescents and 11 children under the age of 13, figures released by Valencian authorities show.

They come from 26 countries, mainly from Africa but also Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, MSF said.

Those with injuries – mainly scratches and burns – were taken to hospital along with the pregnant woman, health officials said.

The Aquarius rescued the migrants off Libya’s coast last weekend but Italy’s new government and Malta both refused to let it dock, accusing each other of failing to meet their humanitarian and EU commitments.

Some of the migrants wait to be attended to at the port in Valencia. Photo: EPA
Some of the migrants wait to be attended to at the port in Valencia. Photo: EPA

Spain eventually agreed to receive the refugees as a “political gesture” to “oblige Europe to forge a common policy to a common problem”, Foreign Minister Josep Borrell said.

Madrid on Saturday said it had accepted an offer from France to welcome Aquarius migrants who “meet the criteria for asylum”.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez thanked French President Emmanuel Macron for his gesture, saying it was “exactly the kind of cooperation Europe needs” at this hour.

After Rome’s decision to ban the Aquarius, Macron and Italian premier Giuseppe Conte met on Friday and called for the EU to set up asylum processing centres in Africa to prevent “voyages of death”.

They also demanded “profound” changes to the EU asylum rules which put the migrant burden on their country of entry to Europe – mainly Italy and Greece.

Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini warned on Saturday that other NGO operated rescue ships would also be banned from docking.

On Sunday he criticised other EU nations for not taking their fair share of refugees, and hoped Spain would “receive 66,000 other [migrants] and that the Portuguese, the Maltese and others could also receive them”.

The Italian vessels Orione (left) and Dattilo (right) at the port in Valencia. Photo: EPA
The Italian vessels Orione (left) and Dattilo (right) at the port in Valencia. Photo: EPA

However, 42 migrants rescued this week by a US ship off Libya before being transferred to an Italian coastguard vessel already carrying 500 migrants would be allowed to land in Italy, media reported in Rome on Sunday.

The USS Trenton also picked up 12 bodies.

MSF emergency coordinator Karline Kleijer said “nothing justifies the degrading treatment” Italy “inflicted” on the passengers of the Aquarius, adding it was “scandalous” that they were made to “wander at sea unnecessarily”.

Nearly 1,000 migrants arrived on Friday and Saturday in the south of Spain, the third busiest gateway for migrants into Europe after Italy and Greece.