Page 8 - ARUBA TODAY

A8 WORLD NEWS
Monday 24 SepteMber 2018

Spain saves some 440 migrants; new crackdown on rescue boat

By FRANCES D’EMILIO night, saying “no pressure
Associated Press at all on Panama for the
ROME (AP) — Spain’s mari- Aquarius 2. I don’t even
time rescue service said know Panama’s area
Sunday it rescued more code.”
than 400 people from 15 The Panama Maritime
small boats, most of them Authority said it was act-
off the country’s southern ing after the “principal
coast, while humanitarian complaint came from Ital-
groups lamented that the ian authorities” about the
sole private rescue boat ship’s captain. It also noted
operating near the deadly that maritime authorities in
central Mediterranean hu- Gibraltar over the summer
man trafficking route risked took Aquarius 2 off its regis-
being put out of action by try and had requested that
Italy’s anti-migrant leaders. it suspend its operations.
While the Spaniards pulled The two humanitarian
447 people to safety on Sat- groups in response said
urday in the western part of they “demand that Euro-
the sea, two humanitarian pean governments allow
groups which operate the the Aquarius to continue its
last private rescue vessel in mission, by affirming to the
the central Mediterranean, Panamanian authorities
considered the deadli- In a Aug. 15, 2018 file photo, the Aquarius rescue ship enters the harbor of Senglea, Malta. that threats made by the
est route for trafficked mi- Associated Press Italian government are un-
grants, said Panama had the captain of Aquarius 2 national standards for safe revoke the registration “un- founded, or by immediate-
yanked the ship’s registra- defied instructions to re- harbor. On Sunday, they der blatant economic and ly issuing a new flag under
tion following Italian com- turn migrants to Libya that asked European govern- political pressure from the which the vessel can sail.”
plaints. it had rescued from unsea- ments to reassure Panama Italian government,” which Nearly 300 migrants have
Panama’s maritime author- worthy vessels launched by that Italy’s contentions are has vowed to stop arrivals died in waters separating
ity said in a statement that Libyan-based traffickers. unfounded or issue a new in Italian ports of migrants Spain and Africa so far in
it has begun procedures to But SOS Mediterranee and flag so Aquarius 2 can saved by private rescue 2018, according to the
remove the registration of Doctors Without Borders, keep operating. In a state- boats. United Nations, and over
Aquarius 2 after Italy com- the humanitarian groups ment Sunday, the two non- Italy’s right-wing, anti-mi- 1,600 have died this year
plained the boat’s cap- jointly operating Aquarius governmental organiza- grant interior minister, Mat- trying to cross the Medi-
tain failed to follow orders. 2, say violence-wracked tions alleged that Italy had teo Salvini, denied that al- terranean, as departures
It said Italy contends that Libya doesn’t meet inter- forced the Panamanians to legation in a tweet Sunday in smugglers boats from
Libya’s coast to Italy have
sharply declined this year
OFFICE SPACE compared to previous
years, after the Italian au-
thorities began cracking
FOR RENT down on the rescue boats.

But U.N. refugee agency
officials say the central
route from Libya is by far
the deadliest for migrants
smuggled by sea.
A recent spike in migrant
arrivals in Spain has strained
public services, and the
Spanish government has
faced further pressure
since Italy refused to let
humanitarian boats dock
with migrants they have
rescued from the sea.
Aquarius 2 was carrying 58
migrants it rescued in the
last few days, and where
they would be taken was
unclear Sunday night.
The U.N. refugee agency
says largely lawless Libya,
bloodied by a recent surge
in fighting among militias,
isn’t a safe harbor. Migrants
returned there are brought
back to detention centers,
where food is scarce and
beatings and sexual as-
sault are common.q