Open Arms: migrants throw themselves into the sea. Spain: ready to offer a solution

2019-08-20T09:25:52.363Z

Many of the migrants aboard the Open Arms ship, suddenly, started throwing themselves into the water to try to reach the shore of Lampedusa by swimming, about 700 meters away. A Coast Guard vehicle is heading towards the ship to retrieve people at sea. Meanwhile, the Madrid government is ready to offer a solution to the Open Arms "in the next few hours": said the Spanish Defense Minister, Margarita Robles, according to the newspaper La Vanguardia. Robles stressed that this is a situation of "humanitarian emergency" and that Spain "will not look the other way as Minister Matteo Salvini is doing". A dramatic picture emerges from Open Arms, in a statement the NGO informs that "The situation is desperate. Words are missing". The nineteenth day at sea for the shipwrecked on the Open Arms ship opens with a man who throws himself into the sea to try to reach the coasts of Lampedusa, immediately recovered by the coast guard. After a "crazy night", an urgent medical evacuation and a woman with a panic attack. The Italian government is considering a transfer of migrants to Spain with military ships. Open Arms considers this decision "incomprehensible": with a plane from Catania you could spend much less and give dignity to the people on board. "We are not able to put ourselves in navigation towards the Balearics, on board there is now an unsustainable situation. The migrants are exhausted, and even the crew is at the end of their strength. And then the boat would need a revision. For all these reasons, the only safe port is that of Lampedusa ". So in an interview with Repubblica Oscar Camps, founder of Open Arms. "We are not really able to put ourselves on the road. And since Friday we have declared to the Italian authorities that we are no longer responsible for what could happen on board", he explains, commenting on Italy's willingness to support the trip to Spain with military ships . And he adds: "We do not make politics, we save lives. And I regret that certain proposals for help from Italy arrive after so many days. At first, we saw ourselves refused entry into territorial waters even when there was a worrying situation of bad weather ". According to Camps, Italy "must assume its responsibilities. Because Spain has said that migrants are willing to take them, but Italy does not want them to land. And, instead, it would be logical, worthy and normal to send migrants to that coast which is 800 meters from where we are now ". After disembarking, the migrants "would be transferred to the hotspot and the next day a plane could accompany them to Spain. Eda there to the countries that said they were available to welcome".