262 migrants arrive

Over 260 illegal immigrants crammed on a large wooden fishing boat landed in Marsaxlokk yesterday morning but most of them will be repatriated within weeks, according to the government.

This is the largest arrival in a number of years but, unusually, most of the immigrants are not from Sub-Saharan African countries. Many of them are therefore automatically disqualified from seeking refugee or humanitarian status and can be repatriated without delay.

According to the Armed Forces of Malta, the immigrants managed to beach the boat barely six metres away from the rock-cobbled shoreline at about 6 a.m. At that point, about 50 jumped overboard and made it to land where they tried to escape. About 35 of these were intercepted within minutes and the search for the rest continued.

According to police sources, five other immigrants jumped off the vehicle on their way for questioning. Three were intercepted but two managed to get away.

Late in the afternoon, the police said they had counted a total of 262, including seven women and two young Kurdish girls aged six and four. One woman on board was found to be pregnant and was immediately taken away in an ambulance for medical attention.

Some claimed to be Kurdish while others were later said to be coming from Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Libya, Pakistan and India. The group also included 30 Nigerians.

The migrants were helped off the boat after wooden and metal planks were put in place as a makeshift gangway. They were escorted onto land as a big number of police officers stood by.

The arrival is considered to be a fluke, particularly due to the nationalities of the immigrants but also because it is out of season.

It is also unusual that the immigrants arrived on a wooden fishing boat rather than a rubber dinghy or a fibreglass boat.

Speaking in broken English, one of immigrants who called himself Mustafa said they had left from Libya and were on their way to Italy.

Saying he was 25 years old and hailing from Casablanca, in Morocco, "Mustafa" said he paid €2,000 for the journey, adding that his final destination was France, where his 20-year-old wife was waiting for him.

"What will they do to us?

No prison, no prison!" he pleaded, after asking for a cigarette.

He explained that he was a chef but wanted to come to Europe to find better employment because there were no jobs in Morocco.

He said the journey took two days and the sea was quite rough but, luckily, no one was injured or sick.

cperegin@timesofmalta.com