PHOTO / GIOVANNI ISOLINO /AFP
Italy’s far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said on Saturday Italian ports were closed to hundreds of migrants rescued off Libya after a mother and newborn baby were evacuated to Malta.
The anti-immigration minister said that the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms had asked to allow the men, women, children and babies rescued on Friday to disembark in Italy after Malta turned them away.
“My answer is clear: Italian ports are closed!” Salvini tweeted. “For the traffickers of human beings and for those who help them, the fun is over.”
The NGO said a Maltese coastguard helicopter had taken a woman and her baby born on a Libyan beach three days ago who were among those rescued at sea.
“We continue with 311 people on board, without port and in need of supplies,” the NGO tweeted.
Proactiva Open Arms said on Friday that it had rescued more than 300 migrants from three vessels in difficulty, including men, women — some of them…
