Italy has agreed to take in 102 migrants rescued from a leaking dinghy off Libya after Malta refused to bow to pressure from the EU to accept them “as soon as possible” to save lives.
The migrants, including a five-month-old baby and four pregnant women, were rescued from their badly damaged inflatable boat on Monday (August 5) by the Liberian-flagged Salamis oil tanker 80 km off the Libyan coast.
In a statement released today, Malta said the Salamis, which had been moored off the Mediterranean island nation in international waters, was heading for Syracuse in Sicily.
“This development came as the Italian authorities accepted to welcome the migrants who are aboard the MV Salamis. It followed diplomatic contacts between the Italian, Maltese and Greek governments,” the government said.
It said Prime Minister Joseph Muscat personally thanked Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta. “Malta’s position during this crisis was always strong, consistent and legitimate. Through this position, Malta sent a strong message,” Muscat was quoted as saying in the statement.
Muscat has sparked controversy with his hardline approach to boat migrants. In July he said the government was considering expelling them, insisting he had to “get the message across that Malta is not a pushover”.
EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem said it was Malta’s “humanitarian duty” and sending the ship back “would be contrary to international law.”
Hundreds of thousands of migrants from Africa have braved the seas in dangerously ill-equipped vessels operated by traffickers to get to Italy and other parts of the European Union in recent years, many paying with their lives.
