The Ministry of Home Affairs this afternoon denied a claim by Italian Minister of the Interior, Roberto Maroni, that the Malta rescue centre had told Rome that it could not deploy assets to the scene where a migrants' boat capsized early yesterday.
It also insisted that Malta had met its international obligations to the full.
Maroni, speaking in the Italian parliament this morning, appeared to blame Malta for failing to rescue migrants whose boat capsized.
( See http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110407/local/maroni-implies-blame-on-malta-for-migrants-tragedy )
Between 150 and 200 are still missing.
The incident took place in rough seas some 32 nautical miles southwest of Lampedusa.
The ministry said the initial information concerning the boat laden with immigrants was first received at around 00:25hrs early on Wednesday by a Detention Service employee at the Open Centre of Ħal Far. He was informed by a migrant that a number of illegal immigrants were at sea and provided a satellite phone-number. This information was supported by a second phone call from a Somali individual.
The Rescue Co-ordination Centre of the Armed Forces of Malta (RCC Malta) first established contact with the Italian Coast Guard HQ in Rome (MRCC Rome) and NATO HQ in Naples at 1.20 a.m.. Both were asked to confirm availability of their respective assets.
"At no point did RCC Malta inform or imply to MRCC Rome that it could not deploy AFM assets to the area in question. The request to MRCC Rome to confirm availability of assets was undertaken in order to verify which asset was available closest to the geographical location of the incident and thus capable of providing the most rapid response. The obligation of all authorities and vessels to respond to such requests is clearly laid out in the Search and Rescue Convention of 1979," the ministry said.
Upon initial contact with Rome at 1.20 am, RC Malta communicated that the migrant craft in question was in probable distress and taking on water.
Initially, Rome informed Malta at 1.26 am that it was unable to deploy any assets to the area because it was involved in two other operations. Both RCCs then engaged in a concerted effort to identify any commercial shipping that may have been in a position to provide immediate assistance and at 2.15 Rome informed Malta that the Italian fishing vessel 'Cartagine’ was 10NM from the distress position and proceeding to investigate.
At 4.16am Rome said that the Cartagine had arrived on scene as had two Italian Coastguard craft which were now standing by in its vicinity. The migrant craft was still reported to be steaming northwards.
At 6.28am Rome informed Malta that the boat had capsized at 5.35am in a position just 32 NM south of Lampedusa and 100 NM southwest of Malta in rough seas.
"Malta’s duty in this case was that of coordinating the search and rescue efforts in saving the occupants of the craft in question. The above, supported by hard evidence, proves that Malta met its international obligations to the full as it has been doing for the past decades."