LISBON, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Portugal is able to host about a tenth of the 234 migrants aboard the humanitarian ship "Lifeline", Portuguese Minister of Internal Affairs Eduardo Cabrita said Wednesday.
"The number of people who will actually come to Portugal will also depend on the set of countries involved. Portugal...was able to accommodate about a tenth of these people without any difficulty and immediately," Cabrita told local journalists at the end of a ceremony to mark the 42nd anniversary of the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF).
The minister stressed the European Union's demonstration of solidarity in the past two days, underlining that eight European countries including France, Italy, Luxembourg, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Malta have responded to the call by the government of Malta to receive the migrants.
The ship, operated by the German non-governmental organization Lifeline Mission, sailed six days ago in the Mediterranean with 234 migrants rescued near the coast of Libya, before it docked in the Maltese port of Valletta on Wednesday evening.
