Government, AFM hit back at Italian political, media onslaught over migrant tragedy off Lampedusa

In a statement, the Armed Forces made it clear that the sinking of the migrant boat with 300 people on board happened right before the eyes of Italain Coast Guard boats, while they were attempting to approach the same boat.

The AFM explained that contrary to any other suggestions, the incident happened at a distance of 32 NM south of Lampedusa and 100 NM southwest off Malta in rough seas.

Although the boat was sighted and the incident happened within Malta’s Search and Rescue area (SAR) it was more opportune to pass on the information to the Italian authorities, since naval assets were much closer than the Maltese.

In fact, Malta coordinated the whole search and rescue operation, and is still engaged in the operation off Lampedusa.

The AFM deployed Patrol Vessel P61 to the search area yesterday morning and it is still on the scene.

Yesterday’s search efforts by the AFM also included two search flights, one of which was conducted by the AFM’s new Maritime Patrol Aircraft the Beechcraft King Air B200, on its first operational deployment.

Search activities this morning are supported by an Italian Military Mission AB212 helicopter deployed from Malta. Current weather conditions in the area are somewhat better than yesterday with 4-6 foot seas and northerly force 4 winds.

But the drowning of some 250 sub-saharan migrants off the coast of Lampedusa has rekindled tensions between Malta and Italy, as Rome’s home affairs minister Roberto Maroni implied responsibility on Malta’s response to the SOS call made by the migrants by satellite phone.

Addressing the Italian Parliament this morning, Roberto Maroni said that soon after the migrants called Malta for assistance, “the Maltese informed Rome that they did not have naval assets for a rescue.”

Maroni explained that the migrants boat was within the Maltese search and rescue area (SAR) and added that “although Italy did not have the responsibility to conduct the rescue, it felt it should do so for moral reasons.”

The Italian authorities last night said that 53 migrants were rescued after the boat capsized in rough weather at dawn yesterday. It is feared that the boat carried as many as 300 migrants. They left from Libya two days earlier.

So far, 52 people being taken on board alive and later hospitalised in Lampedusa.

Only 20 bodies have been spotted and recovered in the rough seas, and hopes for finding an estimated 250 missing migrants alive were faded by this morning when the searches resumed.

The Armed Forces of Malta explained in a statement yesterday that the original information about the boat came from migrants at the Hal Far Open Centre, and later from a call made by the migrants from on board the boat.

Map plotting established that the boat was far more closer to Lampedusa than to Malta, and it would have taken much more time to reach the boat from Malta.

The Maltese authorities even informed NATO command centre in Naples about the migrants boat.

Meanwhile, Maroni criticised the EU for only making €25 million available to tackle the migration problem. “What was needed to tackle the problem - he said - was to close the source of migration.”

He said the EU needed to take action in the countries from what the migrants departed, not only in terms of security, but also economic development.

Italy would be issuing temporary residents’ permits to Tunisian migrants who had relatives in other EU countries, allowing them to circulate within the Schengen area.

He said that at a meeting of European Home Affairs Ministers on Monday, Italy would insist that the burden sharing mechanism should be triggered because of the emergency.

Malta has already called for the activation of the mechanism.

Yesterday, EU Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom wrote to all EU governments and urged them to ‘rapidly’ reach an agreement on burden sharing, and to agree on the urgent implementation of an emergency directive on migration.