Spain has offered to allow a charity boat situated off the coast of Italy with more than 100 people on board to dock at the nearest Spanish port after the Open Arms charity rejected a plan to dock in Algeciras because it was too far away.
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The migrants, most of whom are African, had been picked up by the charity's boat - also called Open Arms - off the coast of Libya in the past two weeks and have been waiting to disembark on the southern Italian island of Lampedusa.
Italy's far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has ordered his officials not to let them disembark, though he made a partial concession on Saturday by allowing 27 minors to leave the boat, saying he had only agreed to this at the insistence of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.
After the charity rejected the plan to go to Algeciras, in southern Spain, the Spanish government offered the captain of the boat the option to dock at the nearest Spanish port, but had not received an answer, the prime minister's office said.
An Open Arms spokeswoman confirmed to Reuters that the boat still had not answered Spain's proposal.
After rejecting the offer to dock at Algeciras, Open Arms asked Italy to allow the migrants to disembark on Lampedusa, citing a deterioration in their physical and psychological conditions, it announced on Twitter. "If the worst happens, Europe and Salvini will be responsible," it said.
Charity rescue boats have largely disappeared from the Mediterranean over the past year because of tighter government controls and lengthy offshore stand-offs.
The Open Arms charity had said earlier on Sunday the vessel could not go to Algeciras as it was a long trip that would risk the wellbeing of the migrants. "We are in a state of extreme humanitarian emergency. What they need is to be disembarked now," an Open Arms spokeswoman said. "It is unthinkable to sail for six days."
Salvini, who had welcomed Spain's offer as a vindication of his hardline stance, said Open Arms' refusal to accept it was "incredible and unacceptable".
"Italy is not the refugee camp of Europe," he said.
France, Germany, Romania, Portugal, Spain and Luxembourg this week said they would help to relocate the migrants. That scheme would take place once the migrants disembark in Algeciras, the Spanish government said.
Open Arms said that a few migrants had jumped off the boat. It posted a video on Twitter of what it said were migrants from the boat trying to swim to shore before being caught by rescuers who jumped in after them.
Meanwhile the number of refugees in the world has hit a record 70 million, the highest figure since World War II, according to the United Nations.
People are fleeing war, persecution and the consequences of global warming, the German branch of the UN Refugee Agency said in a statement on Sunday, one day ahead of World Humanitarian Day.
Australian Associated Press
