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Europe

Spain allows NGOs to sail with aid supplies for migrants

Associated Press
Published | Updated
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    FILE - In this Thursday, June. 15, 2017 file photo, migrants and refugees react at the rescue vessel Golfo Azzurro after being rescued by Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms workers in the Mediterranean Sea, about 18 miles north of Sabratha, Libya. Spanish aid groups say Spain is allowing them to deliver aid supplies to refugee camps in Greek islands, but they face hefty fines if their boats venture into official search and rescue areas in the Central Mediterranean. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File)

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    FILE - In this Sunday, Feb. 5, 2017 file photo, Kybumba Fran, 25, from Cameroon, cries with the head of the mission of Proactive Open Arms NGO Riccardo Gatti, from Italy, as he leaves the Golfo Azzurro rescue vessel after arriving at the port of Pozzallo, south of Sicily, Italy, with more than 220 migrants aboard the ship rescued at the Mediterranean sea. Spanish aid groups say Spain is allowing them to deliver aid supplies to refugee camps in Greek islands, but they face hefty fines if their boats venture into official search and rescue areas in the Central Mediterranean. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File)

BARCELONA, Spain – Spanish aid groups say Spain has reluctantly allowed them to depart for the Greek islands where they want to deliver aid supplies to migrant camps. But the humanitarian aid groups face hefty fines if their boats venture into official search and rescue areas in the Central Mediterranean.

Spain had blocked the rescue boats from sailing, fearing they would anger Mediterranean countries like Italy if they roam around the ocean looking for and picking up migrants.

After four months of legal back and forth, the Aita Mari received the green light to sail to the Aegean Sea on Tuesday.

A separate boat, Proactiva's Open Arms, will depart from Barcelona later this week with blankets and other supplies, the group's founder Oscar Camps said Wednesday.

Camps said his group would still conduct rescues if they come across people in need.