It would have taken Maltese patrol boats 10 hours to reach a boat carrying 209 migrants which was in distress close to Lampedusa on Sunday morning, the Ministry of Home Affairs said today.

It was reacting to a complaint filed by the Italian Coordinating Committee of Consumer Associations’ (Codacons) before the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.

“Malta’s conduct during Search-and-Rescue (SAR) operations and their co-ordination have always been in fullest adherence to International Maritime Law and conventions, the ministry said.

In this case it pointed out, the boat was 51 nautical miles south-south-west of Lampedusa, 44 NM from Tunis, and a further 129 NM southwest of Malta.

“Considering the above scenario, it is estimated that a direct response by Maltese surface assets would have required at least 10 hours to reach the area. Despite this, all the necessary arrangements were made to be able to exercise this option should it have become necessary to do so,” the ministry said. 

It said the Tunisian authorities had declared that they had no assets available to conduct the rescue while the Italian Commando Generale della Guardia Costiera in Rome  confirming the availability of  Italian assets in the vicinity of the distress location. It requested a written request from Malta rescue centre, indicating that this was a SAR case.

“Subsequently, in the customary spirit of close collaboration, Italian assets were deployed from the nearby island of Lampedusa to respond to the distress case,” the ministry said.   

“The Government of Malta serenely awaits any formal communication from the entities mentioned earlier to be in a position to answer in full and state the facts in detail and prove that throughout this incident Malta acted in the interest of the persons aboard the vessel in distress,” the ministry said.