U.K. Sends Navy to Rescue Stranded Travelers

Britain sent Royal Navy warships on Monday to rescue those stranded across the Channel by the volcanic ash cloud in the crisis that has shut down most European airports for a fifth day.

All airports were open Monday in Spain and the country volunteered to become the new hub of Europe to get stranded passengers moving again. Infrastructure minister Jose Blanco said Spain could to take in around 100,000 people under the new emergency plan, which focuses on aircraft trying to bring Britons home from Asia, Latin America and North America.

Spain will also beef up train, bus and ferry services to get travelers to their destinations, he said.

Volcano experts, meanwhile, offered Monday an ever so slightly optimistic bit of news to the millions of stranded airline passengers grounded by an Icelandic eruption of ash and dust; the latest belches of jet-engine clogging debris don't seem to be reaching flight altitude.

In London, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal and assault ship HMS Ocean would be sent across the English Channel. A third ship is being spent to Spain to pick up soldiers trying to get back to Britain after a tour of duty in Afghanistan.

"I expect Ocean to be in the Channel today. I expect the Ark Royal to moving towards the Channel later," Brown said after meeting with the government's emergency committee, known as COBRA.

Brown said the ash cloud had created "the biggest challenge to our aviation transport network for many years."

Some smaller airports in other nations reopened Monday but authorities in Britain, France, Germany, and the Netherlands - home to four of Europe's five largest airports - said their air space was still closed. Britain said it was keeping flight restrictions on through early Tuesday while Italy briefly lifted restrictions in the north then quickly closed down again after conditions worsened Monday.

Eurocontrol said Monday that southern Europe was mostly open for flights - including Portugal, Spain, parts of Italy and France, the Balkans, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey - as were parts of northern Europe like Norway.