Spain and Malta have offered a safe port to the rescue ship currently stranded in the Mediterranean after it was refused permission to dock in Italy
SPAIN and Malta have opened their doors to offer a safe port for a rescue ship currently stranded in the Mediterranean with 629 migrants on board.
The vessel, which has 120 children and seven pregnant women on board, was left sitting in the sea for two days after Italy refused permission for it to dock at its ports.
The refusal from Italy's new interior minister came as part of tough anti-immigration promises made by the country's new government.
Spain's socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has now given instructions for the boat to dock in Valencia, but Sky News sources say it is likely the boat will first dock in Malta within hours.
In a statement issued this evening, the Spanish government said that people had been “abandoned to their fate in the Mediterranean” and that Spain would “comply with its international commitments in matters of humanitarian crises”.
Both Italy and Malta had previously refused to allow the ship to dock in their countries - leaving it floating in limbo off the coast of Sicily for almost two days.
The vessel was left stranded with only enough food for one day leaving those on board in mortal danger.
Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini turned away the Aquarius rescue ship after promising to take a tougher stance on migration during Italy's recent general election.
Mr Salvini said Malta should take the vessel - which was carrying 123 children and seven pregnant women.
However, Malta initially said it had nothing to do with the rescue operation - sparking a stand-off between the two EU countries.
According to reports on Sky News, Malta did not immediately help the stranded vessel for fear of setting a precedent that would force the small island state to continue to take rescued migrants if Italy continues to refuse them safe port.
Malta - which is significantly closer to the boat than Valencia - has now agreed to comply with international law requiring states to help a vessel in distress.
The crisis marked the first display of Italy's get-tough immigration policy under the right-wing, xenophobic League.
They are attempting to make good on electoral promises to halt the flow of migrants into the country.
On Sunday, Mr Salvini tweeted: "Starting today, Italy, too, begins to say NO to the trafficking of human beings, NO to the business of clandestine immigration."
And today he added: "Saving lives at sea is a duty, but transforming Italy into an enormous refugee camp is not.
"Italy is done bowing its head and obeying. This time there's someone saying no."
The ship has been stranded at sea for over a day while the two countries argue.
Meanwhile the EU and the United Nations refugee agency called for a swift end to the row.
Under EU law asylum can be claimed in the first safe country the refugee comes to.
But front-line countries such as Malta and Italy claim they are being overwhelmed with the migrants, many of whom want to get into Europe for economic reasons.
Italian PM Giuseppe Conte said he personally contacted Malta's PM Joseph Muscat to see if the country would "at least take on the human assistance of persons in difficulty aboard the Aquarius".
But Muscat rebuffed him, Conte said in a Facebook post late Sunday.
He said the PM's response: "Confirms the latest unwillingness of Malta and, thus, of Europe, to intervene and take care of the emergency."
On Sunday night, Conte said Italy was sending two motorboats with medical staff aboard in case the migrants needed help, but he made no mention of how the Aquarius might ever get into port.
Salvini and Italian Transportation Minister Danilo Toninelli, said in a joint statement Sunday that it was Malta's responsibility to "open its ports for the hundreds of the rescued".
The ministers said: "The island can't continue to turn the other way.
"The Mediterranean is the sea of all the countries that face it, and it [Malta] can't imagine that Italy will continue to face this giant phenomenon in solitude."
More than 600,000 migrants have reached Italy by boat from Africa in the past five years.
Numbers have dropped dramatically in recent months, but there has been a rise in rescues in the last few days, presenting Salvini with his first test as minister.
The Aquarius is operated by the charity SOS Mediterranean, which said on Twitter earlier on Sunday that the group on board were mainly sub-Saharan Africans picked up in six different rescue operations off the coast of Libya.
The aid group said in a statement it had taken "good note" of Salvini's stance, as reported earlier by Italian media.
EU law requires asylum seekers to register in the first safe country they reach.
But frontline countries such as Italy and Malta say the burden needs to be shared out across the bloc.
By law, it will be difficult for Italy to refuse the boat a safe haven, as its own Coast Guard coordinated the rescues.
And they pick up more than 280 migrants in its own vessels before transferring them to the Aquarius to be taken to safety.
But Italy, which has taken in more than 600,000 boat migrants since 2014 says others should take in its migrants, many of whom are trapped in the country after France and Austria closed their borders.
An EU summit at the end of June is expected to see reforms proposed to the asylum rules.
It said the Aquarius "is still waiting for definitive instructions regarding the port of safety".
Virtually every such migrant boat over the past five years has ended up in Italy.
The UN says at least 785 migrants have died crossing the sea so far this year.
