Migrant rescue mission in Mediterranean 'needs help'

A mission to rescue 32 people from the Mediterranean Sea needs urgent help, a Welsh campaigner has said.

Volunteer Robin Jenkins, from Vale of Glamorgan, is on a Sea-Watch rescue boat that went to the aid of the stranded migrants off Malta.

Activists said their ship has "nowhere to go" after being denied entry to European ports for eight days.

It has led to calls for the UK government to intervene. The Foreign Office has been asked to comment.

Mr Jenkins, originally from Llantwit Major, said he and the Sea-Watch crew rescued 32 people - including two children, one baby and three "unaccompanied minors" from an "unseaworthy" rubber boat on 22 December.

On his Facebook page he claimed "no European port was willing to provide shelter".

Mr Jenkins said the rubber boat holding the migrants fleeing from Libya was leaking fuel and had a broken down engine.

He added: "There are no ports in the Mediterranean that will allow us in. These people have experienced and suffered situations that are unimaginable and really quite terrifying.

"I'm really disappointed by the response of Europe, we are greatly concerned about what the future will hold."

Plaid Cymru AM Leanne Wood said she has written to Home Secretary Sajid Javid and Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt to call for "urgent assistance".

"He is now in serious danger along with dozens of other people including children," she wrote.

Earlier this month Mr Jenkins, founder of the international rescue organisation Atlantic Pacific, was praised by UK Prime Minister Theresa May after being given a Points of Light award for his Lifeboat in a Box project in Japan.

The UNCHR, the UN's refugee agency, said it remained "concerned" about the situation.