Migrants aboard a boat that ran aground at Lampedusa yesterday morning were not in distress before the incident and had not requested assistance, contrary to Italian media reports, the Armed Forces of Malta said.
The AFM also rejected a claim that the boat was originally heading for Malta before it was escorted by the Maltese forces towards Lampedusa.
It was initially said to be carrying 500 migrants but everyone on board was rescued in dramatic scenes thanks to a human chain, created by the coast guard, citizens and other volunteers, avoiding a tragedy.
The AFM said in a statement that the migrants – about 250 – were navigating unaided at all times under the surveillance of its patrol boat P61.
The patrol boat had been dispatched on Saturday after the Italians informed the rescue coordination centre in Malta that their assets were otherwise engaged.
In a blow-by-blow account, the AFM said the P61 was sent to an area close to the Italian island after reports were received from the Italian rescue authorities of a boatload of irregular migrants steaming northwards from the Libyan coast.
At 2.20 p.m., the AFM’s rescue coordination centre at Luqa Barracks was informed by the headquarters of the Italian Coast Guard in Rome that a 20-metre boat, carrying approximately 150 irregular immigrants, was allegedly adrift some 66 nautical miles southwest of Malta and 45 northwest of Lampedusa. An Italian fishing vessel first made the report and remained on the scene.
Rome informed Malta that no local assets were available to deploy at the time. So the Maritime Squadron’s P61 was dispatched and the AFM’s maritime patrol aircraft was also scrambled to locate the migrants’ vessel.
The vessel was located at about 4.35 p.m. packed with at least 250 migrants, steaming steadily northwards towards Lampedusa, the AFM said.
“With a negligible swell under a force 3 wind, the boat was located in a position just 42 nautical miles from Lampedusa by P61 at 9.06 p.m., steering at a seven-knot speed towards its intended destination,” the army continued.
The vessel proceeded unaided towards Lampedusa under the P61’s surveillance until, once in Italian territorial waters, an Italian patrol boat came alongside and escorted it to port. An investigation is under way to establish what went wrong and what caused the boat to smash into the rocks.
However, news agency AFP quoted an Italian coast guard spokesman as saying that the incident was down to a malfunction of the rudder.
The news agency said refugees threw themselves into the water, with some clinging to ropes strung between the rusty fishing boat and the shoreline by rescuers, as officers and local residents dived in to help along the rocky coast.
The denial issued by the AFM continues to bring out strains that exist between the two countries over migrant issues.
In a diplomatic incident last month, Foreign Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici accused Italy of having reneged on its humanitarian obligations after a Maltese patrol boat which had just rescued 171 migrants was denied entry to Lampedusa even though it was the closest port to the scene.
Three weeks later, it was Italy’s turn to make accusations about Malta’s failure to rescue 600 migrants in distress 42 miles off Lampedusa although Malta insisted it had acted in line with its obligations.
Do not fear strangers – Pope Benedict
Pope Benedict XVI yesterday told a congregation at an open-air Mass in Venice – his first during his visit to northeast Italy – not to fear strangers and, in the face of immigration and new geopolitical circumstances, to strengthen the country’s spiritual unity.
He was speaking as the influx of migrants to Italy – thousands have landed on Lampedusa’s shores since the unrest in the Arab world began earlier this year – continues. Recent immigration flows have led to the eruption of squabbles between Malta, Italy, France and Germany amid fears of “invasion”.
The Pontiff’s comments come also just after Tunisian authorities this weekend blocked the first migrant boat headed for Italian shores under a deal between Rome and Tunis agreed last month.
Malta, which has seen a lower influx, has also expressed concern about the situation, appealing repeatedly for more solidarity from the EU.
In controversial statements recently, opposition leader Joseph Muscat had praised Italy for defending its national interest by blocking the entry of a boat of 171 migrants into Lampedusa on April 7 and saying Malta should do the same.
European Commission President José Manuel Barroso had warned member states to show more solidarity on migration to avoid “populist and extreme forces” taking over in the EU.