Activists Protest as Italy Prepares to Ship Migrants to Spain

Activists Protest as Italy Prepares to Ship Migrants to Spain
The MV Aquarius rescue ship is seen as migrants on are rescued by the SOS Mediterranee organization during a search and rescue operation in the Mediterranean Sea, off the Libyan Coast, Sept. 14, 2017. Reuters/Tony Gentile/File Photo
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ROME—Italy plans to transfer migrants crammed aboard a charity boat onto other vessels on Tuesday, June 12, and then sail them all to Spain, despite appeals from humanitarian groups to let the group disembark immediately.

Some 629 migrants, including 11 children and seven pregnant women, have been drifting in the central Mediterranean aboard the Aquarius rescue ship since Sunday, when both Italy and Malta shut their ports to the vessel.