The drama’s provoked a call by medical charity Doctors Without Borders for governments to put lives ahead of politics.

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MSF denounces Italy’s closure of its ports to stop rescued people from disembarking and European governments’ choice of political point-scoring over saving lives at sea.

The charity’s head of emergencies Karline Kleijer says the men, women, and children on board the Aquarius have fled conflict and poverty, and have survived horrific abuse in Libya. They have been shipped from one boat to another like cargo and endured the elements on an unnecessarily long journey at sea.

She says MSF is grateful to Spain for stepping in, even as Italian and other European governments have shamefully failed in their humanitarian responsibilities and placed politics over the lives of vulnerable people.

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