Migrants welcomed in Spain after odyssey

VALENCIA, Spain－The Aquarius rescue ship, a pawn in Europe's latest battle over immigration, has docked in the Spanish port of Valencia after a weeklong odyssey carrying migrants around the Mediterranean Sea.

The boat operated by aid groups SOS Mediterranee Sea and Doctors Without Borders touched land shortly before 11 am on Sunday with 106 migrants onboard.

An Italian Coast Guard ship had already arrived in Valencia with 270 of the 630 total migrants that the Aquarius saved off Libyan shores over a week ago.

Another Italian Navy ship with the rest of the migrants from the Aquarius arrived at 1 pm.

The migrants were welcomed by a team of more than 2,000 people, including 1,000 Red Cross volunteers and 470 translators.

High waves and winds forced the convoy to take a detour on their 1,500-kilometer voyage to Spain. Their arrival marked the end of a weeklong odyssey in the Mediterranean Sea.

A huge banner was earlier put up at the port saying "Welcome home" in various languages.

"People are coming forward for everything: serving as translators, providing accommodation," said Johnson Tamayo, a 51-year-old artist and Red Cross volunteer.

The passengers are made up of 450 adult men and 80 women－including at least seven pregnant women－as well as 11 under-13s and 89 adolescents, according to figures released by authorities.

They come from 26 countries, mainly from Africa but also Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, according to Doctors Without Borders.

Chartered by a French aid group, Aquarius rescued the migrants off Libya's coast last weekend.

Italy's new populist government and Malta refused to let Aquarius dock in their ports, accusing each other of failing to meet their humanitarian and EU commitments.

Spain eventually stepped in and 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.

Spain's Minister of Public Works Miguel Angel Abalos said on Saturday that the migrants from the Aquarius will be granted a "special authorization" to remain in the country for one month before "they will be dealt with according to our laws without exception".

Further bans

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

"While the Aquarius is sailing toward Spain, two other Dutch NGO-operated vessels (Lifeline and Seefuchs) have arrived off the Libyan coast, to wait for their human cargoes once the people smugglers abandon them," Salvini said in a Facebook post.

"These people should know that Italy no longer wants to be any part of this business of clandestine immigration and they will have to look for other ports to go to." he said.

AFP-AP