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Malta has no intention of reducing its search and rescue zone, Foreign Minister Tonio Borg said this evening. He did not rule out, however, dialogue with Italy about the management of this zone.

Addressing a news conference, the minister referred to an interview his Italian counterpart Franco Frattini gave Corriere della Sera and said that the Italian minister was factually incorrect when he tried to link Malta's SAR zone to the incident which saw five Eritrean immigrants landing in Lampedusa.

The immigrants claimed they had been accompanied by another 75 fellow countrymen who lost their life during the voyage.

Dr Borg said that it was "extremely unfair" to criticise or blame Malta or Italy for the deaths, if there were deaths, since when the dinghy was first spotted it was still in Libya's search and rescue area and there were only five people on board.

See also:

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090822/local/improbable-that-dinghy-on-which-eritreans-travelled-carried-many-more-people-brigadier

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