Migrants' boat issues SOS
A boat carrying some 220 migrants has issued an SOS call to Malta and Italy, according to the Italian media.
The boat is taking in water and is at risk of sinking, the migrants reported by satellite phone.
The boat, according to the migrants, is 80 miles north of the Libyan coast.
The Italian media said the Maltese authorities had reported that they were monitoring the situation but the boat was not yet in Maltese waters. Italian rescue boats were dispatched to the area.
However, official sources in Malta said the boat was 27 miles south of Malta's search and rescue zone. A Maltese patrol boat was deployed to the area but did not find the boat.
Meanwhile, the migrants' influx into Lampedusa is continuing, with six boats carrying some 1,000 migrants detected.
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Charles Sammut
May 13th 2011, 14:12
They should have gone to Tunisia. We are now sick to the back teeth from their crying "wolf" that the boat is taking in water and sinking. Left to their own devices they usually make it to Lampedusa unaided. As soon as they sight a ship, their engine mysteriously stops and they start drifting so the 'white donkeys' (their words not mine) will feel obliged to ferry them to Europe. Enough is enough now.
Mr Joe Xuereb
May 13th 2011, 12:55
I had a hospital appointment in Bloomsbury only yesterday. Bloomsbury is a very select area with one or two Council Blocks. I saw a woman dressed in black from head to toe, surrounded by five young kids, one in a pram and heavy with child and x-number of foody carrier-bags (kids have to be fed). She sailed into the front door of the block like the Queen of Sheba.
I am not racist and kids I love. But those kids will grow up. What jobs will be there for them? The birth-rate of the indigenous British is down. That of the newcomers purposely sky-high. I am glad I am getting on in years. The future does not bear thinking about. Quo Vadis UK? Never mind Malta.
Ironic that someone - one Sean Grima I believe - elsewhere is pained that these people are being treated like sacks of potatoes. Put a potato in the soil and, Allah! Allah! miraculously, like a Nadurian shenanigan, in no time you will get ten. It's a question of numbers with agendas.
Mr Carmelo Micallef
May 13th 2011, 11:44
"A boat carrying some 220 migrants.... is taking in water and is at risk of sinking"....
The commentators Fabien Calleja / Mario Gellell / Kenneth Galea have made shameful and inhumane contributions. It is true that the likes of Sn Maroni, Joseph Muscat and Norman Lowell may agree with points you are making and the sentiments expressed .... .... I do not
Mr Alfred Hili
May 13th 2011, 11:42
It was France that started this conflict for personal reasons, followed by Italy. Why should they shirk their responsibility now and shift it on Malta ? The boat is taking water 27 miles south of Malta zone. Surely that is their responsibility.
Stephen Koludrovic
May 13th 2011, 11:29
Possible departure 323 arrivals 202 net gain of 121.
Fabien Calleja
May 13th 2011, 09:43
Hahahahahahaha!
Mr mario gellel
May 13th 2011, 09:42
MALTA SHOULD ISSUE IT'S OWN "SOS" TO THE EU. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
IT'S TIME FOR DR.GONZIPN TO TAKE A STAND THAT SAFEGUARD MALTA'S INTEREST. HE NEED TO STAND UP AND BE COUNTED, AFTER ALL THAT IS WHAT HE IS THERE FOR OR NOT !!!!!!
Kenneth Galea
May 13th 2011, 09:23
Tow them back to Libya. They know they are going to be rescured whether in Libyan waters or not. Western Libya is safe. France and the UK started this mess in Libya and they should be the ones offering to help to take these illegals to their respective African countries and NOT to the EU. They have NO right to land on our shores or even Italian's shores.
It is completely the wrong approach. Yesterday we learnt that the EU is resettling 323 migrants from Malta to other European countries. What message is this sending???? And why not Africa????? Is Africa allowed to have the best of both worlds and washes its hands from these illegals....
Mr ray borg
May 13th 2011, 10:57
Naqbel mijek Kenneth huma aktar safe il-Libya milli fil Mediterran imma ahna l-Maltien kwieti wisq u Gonzi tilef l-interess fil p0oplu Malti laqwa li jintogob mal EU. Haqna aktar minn hekk ghax ahna hafna storbju u dagha u ma naslu mkien.
Mrs Christine Evans
May 13th 2011, 11:22
@Kenneth Galea. Whilst I appreaciate your frustration on this topic, however, I read in a UK paper today THE DAILY MAIL, that they have so many immigrants there, they are actually making the UK poor even poorer !! which is what is going to happen to Malta & Italy if the goverments of these countries do NOT do anything. ALL goverments are a law unto themselves, they will only do what suits them NOT what suits their residents.On average the UK have 1500 illegal immigrants everyday, arriving in backs of trucks etc.
So you can see the UK have far bigger problems than Malta & Italy. Yes the UK is very large, but illegals destroy the residents of a country. My only suggestion to the Maltese is to protest, protest and protest again outside Parliment, perhaps that will make the Maltese goverment listen. Worth a try !!!!!!!!!
Colin Stanley
May 13th 2011, 14:02
@C. Evans. it is our problem not Europe's you are right. England, if it's ok to call it that , has too many illegals too. and as my father used to say. Maltese, gem, gem. moaning, and doing nothing about it.