13 Turkish Kurds in refugee stand-off between Malta and Italy

Malta has asked Italy to assume responsibility for 13 Turkish Kurds aboard a ship in a "desperate" state 18 miles to the north of the island.

The situation has become so serious that the United Nations yesterday urged Italy and Malta to let the 13 stowaways on a freighter to lodge asylum claims and end the matter.

But Malta is standing firm over the issue, with a Home Affairs Ministry spokesman telling The Times that under the Dublin 2 convention, Italy was legally bound to take the men back.

The German-owned ship, the Lydia Oldendorff, left the port of Mersin, Turkey on October 6. The stowaways, including two teenagers, were found hiding in a container unloaded from a ship in the Italian port of Gioia Tauro on October 9.

According to Ann Fenech, the vessel's local representative, the stowaways were provided with food and clothing in Italy but they were later forcefully shuttled back by 20 policemen and the ship master was threatened with arrest if he refused to take them back.

After setting sail, they were denied permission to disembark in Malta.

A ministry spokesman confirmed that the ship was moored at the Freeport for two days a week ago. While in Malta, a doctor was sent on board to check the state of the crew and stowaways and two were sent to hospital for a check-up.

The spokesman insisted that at no point did the stowaways make a claim for asylum. However, Dr Fenech said that the men did ask for asylum in Malta but only after the ship left the island - without the authorities' knowledge.

The ship was due to return to Turkey but the German owner has kept it moored in international waters off Malta rather than return the stowaways forcibly to their homeland.

"The Dublin II convention clearly states that once a ship goes into internal waters, then the member state has to assume responsibility for the people on board. There are records on board the ship that it did indeed sail into an Italian port. The ball is now in the Italians' court," the spokesman said.

Italy's Ambassador to Malta, Alvise Memmo, has been advised of the Maltese government's request.

Dr Fenech said that the situation on board the ship was desperate, especially since the Turkish Kurds were cooped up inside a room measuring six feet by 10.

The ship's owners are so concerned about the situation that one of its shareholders flew to Malta in the vain hope of resolving the matter. Four English security guards trained in hostage situations have been taken on board to ensure the problem does not spiral out of control and calm down the stowaways and the 16 crew members.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer has also been asked to intervene.

"It's a very dramatic situation and we need to resolve this problem at once. Today we are talking about persons. Unless something is done, tomorrow we're going to be talking about bodies," Dr Fenech warned.

Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, told a news briefing in Geneva yesterday that the issue concerned access to the asylum procedure in the European Union.

"Under EU law, there is a clear path mapped out to resolve this situation within which Italy would appear to have responsibility for assessing the 13 asylum claims since it was the first port of discharge," he said.

The UNHCR has been in touch with Italian and Maltese authorities all week but the responses have been "non-committal. We have made no progress," the spokesman said.

At least one of the asylum seekers has reportedly attempted suicide, according to the UNHCR. "It is very urgent to bring this to an end before something serious occurs on board," Mr Colville warned.

It is the second such incident concerning the two countries in the space of a month - the Maltese government had accepted to take back 97 illegal immigrants who had originally docked in Malta before proceeding with their trip to Sicily.