Vessel held in Pozzallo as migration rows begin

A vessel belonging to a Spanish NGO involved in the rescue of irregular migrants was detained in Sicily on Sunday night when its crew was accused of letting 218 migrants disembark there instead of taking them to Malta. The issue, the first since the Italian elections earlier this month, unfolded over five days and reportedly escalated to diplomatic rows between Malta, Libya, Italy and Spain over where the rescued migrants, who departed from Libya, should be taken. The Maltese government insisted on Sunday when contacted by the Times of Malta “there was no diplomatic row in this case”. Italian media and international news agencies reported that the vessel, operated by the NGO Proactiva Open Arms, had picked up the migrants about 75 miles off the Libyan coast on Thursday. The Spanish NGO was quoted by the news reports as saying that while its ship was in international waters, the Libyan coastguard had demanded the migrants be transferred to a Libyan military vessel to be taken back to the North African country. However, both the migrants and the NGO refused, claiming this order was not in accordance with international protocols, since the rescue was taking place in international...