Boat with 300 migrants arrives in Spain after week at sea

A charity rescue vessel carrying mainly African migrants plucked off Libya docked in Spain, ending a traumatic journey which saw them spending Christmas at sea and several European nations denied the ship entry.

Migrants look out from the deck of the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms rescue vessel, after being rescued in the Central Mediterranean Sea on December 21, before disembarking in the port of Crinavis in Algeciras, Spain, Friday, December

A Spanish aid boat carrying over 300 migrants rescued at sea arrived in Spain on Friday, ending a weeklong journey across the western Mediterranean.

The boat, operated by the nonprofit group Proactiva Open Arms, docked at the Spanish

port of Algeciras.

The boat rescued 313 migrants in waters near Libya last week, but had to travel to Spain after Malta denied it permission to dock and Italy and other countries refused to help. Three of the migrants were later evacuated for health reasons.

Oscar Camps, head of Proactiva Open Arms, said Friday that the group of migrants included "19 different nationalities, with many people with the right to ask for asylum."

A migrant child is carried from the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms rescue vessel, after being rescued December 21, in the Central Mediterranean Sea, to disembark in the port of Crinavis in Algeciras, Spain, Friday, December

In June, Spain opened its ports to another aid ship belonging to SOS Mediterranee Sea and Doctors Without Borders carrying over 600 rescued migrants after Italy and Malta refused to let it dock.

According to the UN refugee agency, over 2,200 migrants have died trying to cross the Mediterranean this year in unseaworthy smugglers' boats while 119,336 have reached Europe.

Source: AP

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