Cruise ship detained at Spanish port over visa row allowed to leave
A cruise ship detained in Barcelona since Tuesday due to forged visas has been allowed to continue on its route through the Mediterranean Sea.
Following an agreement with the Spanish authorities, the Armonía and its some 1,500 passengers will set sail on Thursday and continue the planned journey to Italy, the company MSC Cruises said.
The ship is set to arrive on Monday in Marghera, near Venice - but without the 69 passengers from Bolivia, who did not have valid visas for Europe.
The Bolivians are being held in the Barcelona port's transit area as they wait for their cases to be resolved. Local officials say they expect for them to eventually be sent back to Latin America.
The group of Bolivians, which included families with children, had set off from Brazil for the cruise to Barcelona, where their voyage was to end. But, following visa checks, they were not allowed to leave the ship to go ashore like the other passengers.
Authorities said they had travelled under forged Schengen visas, which allow holders to move among nearly 30 European countries.
Some relatives of the Bolivians on board who live in Spain told Spanish media that the people had been victims of a scam.
They said an agency in South America had offered the passage and visas online and charged up to $10,000 per person. This agency also cancelled return flight tickets that had been promised after the cruise ship left Brazil for Europe, La Vanguardia newspaper quoted relatives as saying.
However, the police say they have not ruled out the possibility that the Bolivians actually wanted to enter Spain illegally using knowingly forged documents.
