Spain says it will allow a rescue ship carrying more than 600 migrants picked up in the Mediterranean to dock in the eastern port of Valencia, after Italy's new prime minister, who also leads the right-wing League party, ordered Italy’s ports to refuse entry to the rescue ship. The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) launched an initiative in Rome on Monday to help find missing migrants in the Mediterranean, a day after Italy and Malta refused to allow a rescue boat carrying 629 migrants to dock in their ports. MSF Sea (Doctors Without Borders) said the medical situation of those on the Aquarius was “stable for now but unnecessary delay to disembarkation in safe port puts vulnerable patients at risk.”

“Particularly seven pregnant woman, 15 with serious chemical burns and several critical drowning hypothermia patients,” MSF Sea said. Italy claimed that Malta should accept the Aquarius because Malta was the safest, closest port to the ship. Maltese Premier Joseph Muscat accused Italy of violating international norms governing sea rescues and said its stance risked “creating a dangerous situation for all those involved.”

Spain’s new Socialist prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, ordered authorities in Valencia to open the port, saying “it’s our duty to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe and offer a secure port for these people.”

But it wasn’t clear if the offer would be taken up given that the trip would expose the migrants to several days more on the sea.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announces that he will allow a migrant vessel carrying 629 rescued migrants, including children and pregnant women, to dock in Valencia after Malta and Italy both refused the vessel.