Spanish Navy patrol boat Audaz arrives in Italy to collect Open Arms migrants

THE Spanish Navy’s Meteoro Class patrol boat ‘Audaz’ has arrived at the Italian port of Lampedusa to collect the 15 migrants that have been accepted by the Spanish government.

The ‘Audaz’ arrived in Italy at 10 am this morning (Friday) to prepare for the collection of the Saharan migrants currently held in a reception centre in Lampedusa.

The Audaz set sail last Tuesday afternoon from the naval base of Rota (Cádiz) with the initial mission of taking care of the people rescued by the Open Arms and accompanying the humanitarian ship to the port of Palma de Mallorca.

Shortly after its launch, however, the prosecutor of Agrigento (Sicily) ordered the Open Arms to land in Lampedusa and demanded the seizure of the vessel for breaching immigration laws.

The migrants have been at the centre of a European political struggle as EU member nations have battled to find a solution as to where they would be distributed.

Eventually, a decision was made in the initial distribution agreement made by the European Commission which included Germany, France, Luxembourg and Portugal as well as Spain.