More than 750 migrants rescued at sea Saturday in Spain

Piled in 16 boats, 298 people were taken care of in the Strait of Gibraltar and landed in the ports of Tarifa and Barbate, Andalusia.

On the other hand, 342 other migrants were rescued in the Mediterranean between southern Spain and northern Morocco and 129 off the island of Gran Canaria in the Atlantic Ocean.

Those rescued, including minors, women and several babies, come mainly from the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa but also from Asia, said a spokesman for the organization.

These rescues occur six days after the arrival in Valencia of Aquarius, which had rescued 629 migrants off the coast of Libya and to which Italy and Malta had prohibited to dock.

The issue of welcoming migrants, which deeply divides Europeans, will be at the center of a crisis mini-summit in Brussels on Sunday. Intended to prepare the Brussels summit of 28 and 29 June, which will be largely devoted to immigration, it will be boycotted by the Visegrad Group countries (Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia), supporters of a hard line on the Internet. 'immigration.

Tempted by a boycott of the mini-summit, Italy has finally confirmed its participation but intends to "hear his music," according to Interior Minister Matteo Salvini.

According to Rome, the text prepared by Paris and Berlin insufficiently addresses the issue of the protection of European borders to focus on the redeployment of migrants once they have already arrived in Europe.

Spain, whose new Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez took the initiative to host the Aquarius, will also participate in the summit.

It is the third gateway for migrants to Europe after Italy and Greece.

While the number of migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean has been halved since the beginning of the year compared to the same period last year, it has tripled for Spain, according to the International Organization for Migration. Migration (IOM).

Some 12,155 migrants arrived in Spain between 1 January and 20 June. During this period, 292 migrants died trying to reach the Spanish coast. In total, 960 migrants died in the Mediterranean over this period, according to IOM.