Aquarius arrives In Spain. Refugees celebrate arrival at New Homeland
The 630 migrants and refugees rescued off the coast of Libya and turned away from Italy and Malta have begun to arrive at the Spanish port of Valencia after seven days at sea.
An Italian coastguard vessel, Dattilo, the first of three ships transporting the group, pulled into Valencia harbour at 6.20am carrying 274 people.
The Aquarius arrived in Valencia a few hours later, entering the port shortly after 11am local time and carrying 106 migrants and refugees.
A third ship the Italian naval vessel, the Orione, is due to pull into the port later on Sunday. It is carrying 250 people.
The migrants’ plight, which has laid bare the deep divisions over migration within the EU, has seen the French president, Emmanuel Macron, accuse the Italian government of “cynicism and irresponsibility” by refusing to let the rescue ship Aquarius dock in one of its ports.
Their immediate fate was only settled on Monday when the new Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said the country would take them in, saying it had a duty to help avert “a humanitarian catastrophe”.
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