The Spain Report : The new Spanish government is to allow the Gibraltar flagged migrant rescue ship Aquarius, currently waiting in international waters between Malta and Sicily (Italy), to dock in Valencia, the Prime Minister’s Office, Moncloa, confirmed in a statement at 2:30 p.m.
“The Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, has given instructions for Spain to comply with its international commitments in matters of humanitarian crises”, said the statement: “and has announced that a Spanish port will welcome the Aquarius, in which 600 people have been abandoned to their fate in the Mediterranean”.
The statement confirmed the destination port would be Valencia, some 1,300 km from the Aquarius’s current location.
The Mayors of Barcelona and Valencia, on Spain’s eastern Mediterranean coast, had offered their cities to take in the 629 people on board. Spanish news agency EFE quoted one doctor on board the vessel as saying there is only enough food left for today.
MSF Sea tweeted an update on the medical situation on board the ship: “stable for now but unnecessary delay to disembarkation in safe port puts vulnerable patients at risk, particularly: 7 pregnant women, 15 w/ serious chemical burns, several critical drowning + hypothermia patients”.
The Mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau (Barcelona In Common), told a breakfast meeting on Monday that “of course we offer Barcelona” and demanded the new Spanish government “not look the other way”.
On Sunday night, she tweeted the Mayor of Naples: “Thank you Mayor. Barcelona is also ready to save lives. European States must get organised to welcome [people] or otherwise all of Europe will be shipwrecked”.
The Mayor of Valencia, Joan Ribó (Compromís), offered his city, 300 km south of Barcelona, to welcome the migrants.
“Valencia offers itself as a #RefugeCity to welcome the 629 people fleeing war and starvation (123 children). We want to avoid more deaths in the Mediterranean”.
