MARSEILLE: The operators of the migrant ship Aquarius on Monday called on Europe to find a safe haven for 141 people rescued in the Mediterranean, saying Italy and Malta had again refused to let the vessel dock.

The Aquarius, which was left stranded with 630 mig­r­a­nts on board in June after being turned away by Rome and Valletta, resumed rescue operations off the Libyan coast last week.

On Friday, it picked up 141 people in two separate operations, half of them children, but it has again struggled to find a port to bring them ashore.

Sophie Beau, president of the vessel’s operator SOS Me­­diterranee, said the ship, currently situated between Malta and the Italian island of Lam­pedusa, had again received “official negative replies” from the two countries.

“We’re asking all European countries to find a solution. We’re asking them to be responsible and find a safe port in the Mediterranean,” she said, accusing Italy and Malta of flouting international maritime law.

Tove Ernst, a spokesman for the European Commission, said it was in contact with “a number of member states that have approached us regarding the incident” to try to find a “swift resolution” to the standoff.

Since June, Italy’s new far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has regularly turned away rescue ships operated by foreign NGOs such as the Aquarius, accusing them of playing into the hands of people smugglers.

On Saturday, he said the Aquarius would “never see an Italian port” again. His hard-line stance has sparked a row among EU members, underscoring their failure to come up with a common approach to the influx of people trying to escape conflict, persecution or poverty in Africa and the Middle East.

In June, Spain stepped in and welcomed the Aquarius. France, which was within clo­ser range but did not allow the boat access, took in 78 of the migrants after they landed.

The director of the French port of Sete on the Mediterranean coast said on Monday that he would be prepared to let the boat dock if the French government gave its approval.

The French government insists that international maritime law must be respected, meaning that the boat should be able to dock in the port that is closest.

Leaders on the French island of Corsica had offered to welcome the Aquarius in June.

For years, Italy pleaded with its EU partners for help with a massive influx of arrivals from Africa that has seen 700,000 people cross the Medi­­terranean and land in the country since 2013.

Published in Dawn, August 14th, 2018