Two boats carrying more than 500 migrants remain stranded in the Mediterranean after Italy and Malta refused to allow them to dock.
Open Arms, the Spanish NGO operating one of the vessels, said they felt “abandoned” and criticised Europe’s alleged silence on the matter.
It is now 12 days that the boat has been stranded with around 150 migrants onboard near the Italian island of Lampedusa.
Another boat, “Ocean Viking”, operated by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and SOS Méditerranée, is stranded off the coast of Libya with around 356 migrants.
France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, has said migrants shouldn’t have to choose between “being bombed in Libya or drowning in the Mediterranean”.
Macron has suggested, along with Germany, a “solidarity mechanism” that would see rescued migrants shared out across the European Union.
Source: EN
