Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

IMMIGRATION

Morocco navy picks up 242 migrants in Spain crossing attempt

The Moroccan navy has picked up 242 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa who were trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Spain in flimsy boats, the official MAP press agency reported late Friday.

Published: 27 July 2019 10:39 CEST
Morocco navy picks up 242 migrants in Spain crossing attempt
A file photo taken at Malaga after a previous rescue. Photo: AFP

It said the migrants, including 50 women and 12 children, were rescued from several inflatable boats which had got into difficulty.

“The migrants, some of whom were unwell, were taken safely to port,” the news agency said.

So far this year, more than 15,000 such migrants have made it to Spain, 12,000 by the sea route, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates.

More than 200 have died in the attempt.

Aiming to halt the migrant influx, the European Union last year gave Morocco 140 million euros to support efforts to curb human traffickers.

READ ALSO: Majority of migrants who drown trying to reach Spain are never found

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

IMMIGRATION

France ‘will not welcome migrants’ from Lampedusa: interior minister

France "will not welcome migrants" from the island, Gérald Darmanin has insisted

Published: 20 September 2023 09:06 CEST
France 'will not welcome migrants' from Lampedusa: interior minister

France will not welcome any migrants coming from Italy’s Lampedusa, interior minister Gérald Darmanin has said after the Mediterranean island saw record numbers of arrivals.

Some 8,500 people arrived on Lampedusa on 199 boats between Monday and Wednesday last week, according to the UN’s International Organisation for
Migration, prompting European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to travel there Sunday to announce an emergency action plan.

According to Darmanin, Paris told Italy it was “ready to help them return people to countries with which we have good diplomatic relations”, giving the
example of Ivory Coast and Senegal.

But France “will not welcome migrants” from the island, he said, speaking on French television on Tuesday evening.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has called on Italy’s EU partners to share more of the responsibility.

The recent arrivals on Lampedusa equal more than the whole population of the tiny Italian island.

The mass movement has stoked the immigration debate in France, where political parties in the country’s hung parliament are wrangling over a draft law governing new arrivals.

France is expected to face a call from Pope Francis for greater tolerance towards migrants later this week during a high-profile visit to Mediterranean city Marseille, where the pontiff will meet President Emmanuel Macron and celebrate mass before tens of thousands in a stadium.

SHOW COMMENTS