BFF-55 Malta to take in 19 migrants after shipwreck in Mediterranean

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EUROPE-MIGRANTS-MALTA

Malta to take in 19 migrants after shipwreck in Mediterranean

VALLETTA, July 22, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat
on Sunday said his country will take in 19 migrants rescued after their boat
capsized in the Mediterranean overnight.

Seventeen migrants had initially been rescued by Malta’s armed forces in
the country’s search and rescue area, but a pregnant woman and child were
then saved after survivors said they were missing.

“We have found them, and they are all alive,” Muscat told journalists,
adding that he had given instructions for the group to be brought to Malta.

However Malta is still refusing to take in 40 migrants who have been
stranded for a week after being rescued by a commercial ship within the
country’s search and rescue area.

On Thursday the government strongly rejected reports that Malta broke
international rules by directing the migrants to disembark in Tunisia.

“The applicable conventions stipulate that disembarkation should take place
at the nearest place of safety. Tunisia was the nearest place of safety,” the
government said in a statement.

Tunisia has also refused to take in the 40 migrants, who are now stranded
off the Tunisian port of Zarzis on the ship that rescued them, as letting
them land would set a precedent.

In recent years Malta has normally only accepted rescued migrants on its
shores if they were saved in the country’s territorial waters or in cases of
medical emergencies.

Europe has been rocked by a burgeoning crisis over what to do with the
influx of people fleeing conflict and persecution across the Mediterranean
after Italy’s new populist government started turning away rescue ships.

Italy has since tried to push Malta to accept more migrants, but the
authorities in capital Valletta have often turned them down, saying that the
operations took place closer to the shores of Tunisia or Italy’s own islands.

Pope Francis waded into the fractious debate on Sunday, calling on the
international community to act “decisively and quickly” to prevent further
shipwrecks tragedies in Mediterranean.

“In recent weeks there have been dramatic reports of shipwrecks of boats
loaded with migrants,” he said, adding that the “safety, respect of rights
and the dignity of all must be guaranteed”.

BSS/AFP/MRI/1920 hrs