- Migration: After the Open Arms crisis comes the Ocean Viking crisis
- Direct witness. "For immigrants from the Open Arms, Lampedusa is what New York was for the Italians"
The Maltese Prime Minister, Joseph Musca t, announced Friday that six European Union countries agreed to distribute to the 356 migrants on board the humanitarian ship Ocean Viking.
"All migrants" aboard the SOS Mediterranean and Médecins Sans Fronts ship will be transferred to a Maltese military ship, taken ashore and then distributed between France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal and Romania, Muscat said in his account from Twitter "None will stay in Malta," he added.
Both NGOs have celebrated the news. "After 14 days of unnecessary suffering, the 356 people aboard the Ocean Viking will land in Malta," MSF announced via Twitter.
On August 21, SOS Méditerranée warned that the vessel needed a "quick" solution to disembark its 356 immigrants - among them 103 minors , most unaccompanied - and prevent the situation from degenerating on board.
The Ocean Viking made four successive bailouts between the past August 9 and 12, and since then waited at an equidistant distance from Italy and Malta for a European country to authorize a port in which to disembark these people.
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Immigration Salvini asks the Spanish Government to take over the Open Arms and Celaá replies that it goes "to the nearest port"
Politics Open Arms accuses Carmen Calvo of "misrepresenting" for saying that the ship "did not want to enter Malta and went to Italy"
SpainÒscar Camps, founder of the NGO Open Arms: "Spain has left us out of play"