Migrants disembark from the Italian navy boat the Dattilo at the port of Valencia on June 17, 2018. The first migrants from the Aquarius, which was turned away by Italy and Malta sparking a major migration row in Europe, disembarked in the Spanish port of Valencia.(AFP PHOTO/PAU BARRENA)
VALENCIA, Spain, June 18 (Xinhua) -- The 630 immigrants who were turned away by Italy and Malta a week ago arrived in Valencia, east of Spain, on Sunday as part of the so-called 'Operation Hope of the Mediterranean' by the Red Cross.
According to the organization, 317 people have been assisted by the Red Cross until 17:00 local time (1500 GTM) and 44 of them were admitted into hospitals due to respiratory insufficiencies, dehydration, chest pain or fractures.
The 630 immigrants, among them 123 minors without families, 80 women, including between seven and nine pregnant women, were onboard of three ships that docked in Spain after a long journey of eight days in the Mediterranean Sea.
The first ship was an Italian coastguard vessel, Dattilo that carried 274 people.
It was followed by the Aquarius rescue vessel, operated by the NGO SOS Mediterranee in partnership with Doctors Without Borders (MSF), that carried 106 people on board and another Italian coastguard vessel, the Orione with 250 people on board.
Coralie Carvin, who has been working at SOS Mediterranee since 2016, told Xinhua that the immigrants were exhausted after having been a week in the sea.
The humanitarian ship Aquarius rescued the 630 immigrants off Libyan coast and was stranded in the Mediterranean Sea after Italy and Malta refused to let them dock. The Spanish government later offered a "safe harbor".
"We have rescued close to 30,000 people" since the organization was born in 2015, Carvin said, pointing out that she hopes the Aquarius issue increases solidarity among the European countries.
A total of 2,320 people, including 1,000 Red Cross volunteers, health professionals, police officers, translators and other officials were involved in assisting the 630 immigrants.
Also, on Saturday France offered to help Spain take in immigrants from the ships, according to Spain's Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calvo.
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez thanked French President Emmanuel Macron and stated that this was "exactly the kind of cooperation Europe needs".
The president of MSF Spain, David Noguera, hopes the Aquarius issue becomes "a symbol".
"We hope Aquarius to become a symbol, a turning point for governments to take responsibility and find a more human and solidarity solution", he told Xinhua.
"We live in a complicated moment in the world with more than 400 active conflicts, more than 65 million of refugees displaced in the world, which is a figure that surpasses that of the Second World War, and the International community is unable to response", he stated.
"I hope that this wave of solidarity that the Aquarius has awaken will be useful to look at the migration issue in Europe from another perspective", he said.
The wandering in the Mediterranean, for several days, of the humanitarian ship Aquarius, transporting more than 600 migrants, has cast harsh light on the fierce disagreements between member states of the European Union (EU) regarding the migration policy that the bloc should follow.
French President Macron's tough comments toward Rome this week have provoked a serious deterioration of relations between the two traditionally allies.
The tensions between Rome and Paris pay witness to the disagreements always growing between European countries. These could provoke a veritable crisis in the EU which, since the migratory spike in 2015, has not arrived at an agreement for a shared policy on the matter.
