After less than a month docked in Motril Port, the NGO ship belonging to Open Arms is slipping its cable and moving on for good.

The reason why is that no deal had been reached for them to work out of the port, centring their rescue missions on the Mar de Alborán, to the south of Motril, half way to Morocco. Consequently, they are returning to their previous home base, Barcelona, where they will arrive today.

The agreement they were after was to be able to coordinate their efforts with the Spanish coast guards, Salvamento Marítimo, but after a long wait, no such understanding was reached.

They pointed out that their raison d’être was to rescue people in peril on the sea, but if they couldn’t legally do it from Motril, then there was really no reason to remain there.

During its stay in Motril Port it only participated in two rescue missions; in one of which they had brought the immigrants into port and in the other it was the Guardia Civil launch that did so.

(News: Motril, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)