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Over 400 Migrants Saved Off Spain

  A total of 418 migrants were rescued in three operations off the coast of Spain on Saturday, the national rescue service said. Advertisement In … Continue reading Over 400 Migrants Saved Off Spain


This handout picture relased from French non-governmental organisations Medecins Sans Frontieres – Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and SOS Mediterranee on June 17, 2018 shows migrants disembarking from the rescue vessel Aquarius upon arrival in Valencia, Spain. The 630 migrants whose rescue sparked a major migration row in Europe arrived onboard the Aquarius, Italian navy boat Orione and Italian coastguard boat Datillo in the Spanish port after a turbulent week that saw Italy and Malta turn them away. Karpov / SOS MEDITERRANEE / AFP
This handout picture relased from French non-governmental organisations Medecins Sans Frontieres – Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and SOS Mediterranee on June 17, 2018 shows migrants disembarking from the rescue vessel Aquarius upon arrival in Valencia, Spain. 
Karpov / SOS MEDITERRANEE / AFP

 

A total of 418 migrants were rescued in three operations off the coast of Spain on Saturday, the national rescue service said.

In the largest of these, 262 people on 15 vessels were rescued in the Strait of Gibraltar, Salvamento Maritimo said on Twitter.

Twenty-seven others were found in the Mediterranean between Spain and Morocco and 129 more off the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean.

The operations come six days after 630 migrants arrived in the Spanish port of Valencia aboard three vessels, including the NGO rescue ship Aquarius.

The Aquarius rescued the migrants off Libya’s coast on June 9 but Italy’s new populist government and Malta both refused to let it dock, triggering an international outcry, before Spain stepped in to help.

Germany has called an EU mini summit for Sunday to discuss the migration issue.

Spain was the third most popular destination for migrants in the European Union last year after Italy and Greece.

Most migrants travel in packed boats from Morocco’s northern shore to Spain’s southern coast, a distance of over 100 kilometres (60 miles) depending on the route.

AFP