Malta did not offer to take in rescued migrants

Lawyers of a Spanish NGO whose vessel was impounded in Sicily after a rescue operation said Malta did not offer to take the 218 rescued migrants despite being the "closest safe port".
In written submissions to a court in Catania, in response to preliminary accusations that Proactiva Open Arms ignored international obligations to disembark saved migrants in Malta, its lawyers argued that was not possible.
Acknowledging that the ship had stopped in Malta to disembark a mother and her three-month-old baby who required urgent medical help, the lawyers noted that at no point did Malta offer to accept the rest of the rescued migrants on board.
"Malta is the only EU member state that does not accept the international law principle that it has to host all those rescued in its search and rescue area. This is why we had to proceed to Sicily because Malta was the port of disembarkation," they argued.

The 218 migrants were on two dinghies that departed from Libya heading for Europe. According to the NGO, the migrants were picked up after finding themselves in distress about 73 nautical miles off the Libyan coast, in international waters.
Following a stand-off on the high seas with a Libyan...

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