VALENCIA, Spain — An aid group’s ship and two Italian military vessels docked Sunday at the Spanish port of Valencia, ending a weeklong ordeal for hundreds of people who were rescued from the Mediterranean Sea only to become pawns in a European political fight.
The Italian coast guard vessel Dattilo was the first of the boats in the convoy bearing 630 migrants to touch land, pulling in just before 7 a.m. The 274 recued people on board disembarked after medical staff made a preliminary inspection.
The rescue ship Aquarius came in four hours later carrying another 106 migrants. Aid workers awaiting their arrival clapped and cheered as the first passengers walked down the gangway. An Italian navy ship, the Orione, came in shortly after 1 p.m with the remaining 250.
The Aquarius, operated by the aid groups SOS Mediterranee Sea and Doctors Without Borders, was stuck off the coast of Sicily on June 9 when Italy’s new populist government refused it permission to dock and demanded that Malta do so. Malta also refused.
After days of bickering and food and water running low on the ship, Spain stepped in and granted the rescue boat entry with a plan called “Operation Mediterranean Hope.” The 930-mile journey across the Mediterranean from Sicily to Valencia took nearly a week.
After Spain invited the Aquarius to land, Italy sent the Dattilo and Orione to help transport the migrants.
David Noguera, the head of Doctors Without Borders in Spain, said he was glad Spain welcomed the ship’s passengers, who were picked up off the coast of Libya. He said he is worried that more European nations will close their ports to migrants who are rescued at sea.
“I have mixed feelings,” Noguera told The Associated Press as the first boat arrived in Valencia. “I am happy that the journey (for the Aquarius migrants) is over — a journey that was too long — and I am worried for the situation in the Mediterranean and the closing of European ports.”
The migrants were met by emergency workers, health officials, Red Cross volunteers and psychologists at the city’s marina. Each was assigned to a translator, and authorities worked to determine their identities before they were sent to welcome centers.
The first person through the process was a 29-year-old man from South Sudan.
In total so far, there were 31 different nationalities represented, with the largest numbers of people coming from the Sudan, Algeria, Eritrea and Nigeria, according to Spanish authorities.
There were also 68 minors, 46 of them traveling without an adult family member.
