A Frontex spokeswoman took issue with the claim that the Norwegians who took part in the rescue were not trained in the necessary rescue techniques. “The complete opposite is true,” Paulina Bakula wrote in an email. “Peter Henry Von Koss, which was first on the scene, specializes in search and rescue operations with a crew trained to take part in such maritime missions.”

Since the ship was deployed as part of the Frontex mission in July, she added, “the Norwegian vessel rescued more than 2,000 people.”

Laura Lanuza, a spokeswoman for the Spanish lifeguard team, said in a telephone interview that her group did not mean to imply the Norwegians were unwilling to help in the rescue — and had obviously transported half of those pulled from the water back to shore. But the problem, she said, was that the Norwegian vessel was not designed for rescuing people from the water, and the crew was not trained in C.P.R. “It is not that they didn’t want to” pull people from the water or resuscitate those on the verge of drowning, she said, “but the Frontex boats are not prepared to do any rescue task in the water.”