*EU urges Malta to allow Ethiopian, Eritrean migrants rescued at sea ***
By Topy Vogel, European News
August 6, 2013
The European Commission has warned Malta not to continue blocking a
Greek-operated oil tanker after it rescued 102 migrants in distress off the
Libyan coast.
"It is the humanitarian duty of the Maltese authorities to allow these
persons to disembark," Cecilia Malmström, the European commissioner for
home affairs, said in a statement today (6 August).
Malta and Italy are quarrelling over who might be in charge of the rescued
migrants, which according to the Commission include four pregnant women, an
injured woman and a five-month-old baby.
The Maltese authorities said yesterday (5 August) that they had refused
entry to a Liberian-registered tanker operated by a Greek firm that had
rescued 102 migrants after their rubber dinghy got into trouble in Libyan
waters.
The Italian search and rescue centre had instructed the tanker to pick up
the migrants and to return to Libya, according to the Italian authorities.
But the ship's captain continued the journey to Malta, where his vessel was
blocked just outside territorial waters by the Maltese navy.
The ship's operator denies that there was an order to return to Libya and
says that several of the rescued migrants, thought to be from Ethiopia and
Eritrea, need urgent medical attention amid worsening conditions on the
tanker.
"Any dispute about the responsible search and rescue authority, including
the involvement of the Italian and Libyan authorities, as well as the right
place of disembarkation does not help the persons in immediate need",
Malmström said in her statement. "These issues should be clarified at a
later stage".
She said: "At this point in time, it is the humanitarian duty of the
Maltese authorities to allow these persons to disembark. Sending the ship
back to Libya would be contrary to international law. The master of the
ship has dispatched an urgent medical request as the injured woman needs
immediate hospitalisation. The Commission therefore urges Malta to let
these persons disembark as soon as possible".
Malta says it faces an emergency after some 1,000 migrants arrived last
month
Received on Fri Aug 09 2013 - 11:35:12 EDT