Spanish boat rescues 250 migrants in Mediterranean

Migrants, who are part of a group intercepted aboard a dinghy off the coast in the Mediterranean sea, stand on a rescue boat upon arriving at a port in Malaga, southern Spain, in this March 2, 2017 photo. (REUTERS)

MADRID: A Spanish organization said on Sunday its rescue ship has saved 250 migrants in danger of capsizing near the Libyan coast.
Proactiva Open Arms spokesperson Laura Lanuza said that the NGO’s boat rescued the African migrants from two small rubber vessels that were at risk of being overwhelmed by the sea.
The migrants were soon transferred to an Italian coast guard ship, which had alerted the NGO to the whereabouts of the migrants.
Proactiva Open Arms was founded in 2015 to respond to the migration crisis in Mediterranean.
Lanuza said its single rescue ship, a converted fishing boat, has rescued around 2,000 migrants so far this year.
Separately, a German newspaper reported on Sunday that the government planned to close the border with Austria and turn back asylum-seekers in September 2015, at the height of the refugee crisis.
Welt am Sonntag reported Chancellor Angela Merkel and her ministers agreed Sept. 12 to send thousands of police to shut the frontier the following evening, but the plan was halted hours before it was due to take effect.
Citing interviews with several high-ranking officials involved at the time, the paper reported that ministers did not want to take responsibility for a decision that might be illegal. The possibility of unpopular images of police officers blocking women and children was reportedly also a concern.
The Interior Ministry said in a statement it could “neither confirm nor deny” the report.