Malta rebuts accusations as search for missing immigrants goes on

The government has defended itself amid Italian media accusations that the Armed Forces of Malta should have rescued a group of would-be immigrants before they proceeded on their voyage of death.

The Italian coast guard yesterday continued its search for 20 to 30 missing would-be illegal immigrants, a day after their boat ran aground off Ragusa, Sicily, in strong winds and five-metre waves. Nine died and 173 managed to swim ashore or were rescued.

The immigrants were sighted six miles off Gozo on Thursday afternoon but refused any assistance from the AFM.

Parliamentary Secretary Tony Abela insisted that the AFM had no right to force the immigrants to land, even if they were in territorial waters.

"They had the right of innocent passage. But more importantly, the AFM ensured that the boat was moving on its own steam and the immigrants refused any assistance," Dr Abela told The Sunday Times.

The AFM immediately alerted the Italian rescue services that the boat was located 32 miles from the Sicilian coast.

Hamed Godbari, a 44-year-old Tunisian confirmed with Italy's La Repubblica newspaper that the boat's occupants refused to land in Malta.

"Our objective was to reach the Italian coast at all costs, and this is why we did not request the help of the Maltese when we went past the island," the immigrant explained.

The Tunisian, however, claimed he did not see the Maltese personnel himself, but added: "Even if they did reach us, we'd have ignored them. Our voyage had to proceed as planned."

Mr Godbari said he paid a lot of money to make the crossing and the rough seas would not dent his hopes of reaching Italy. The immigrants told investigators they had paid $1,500 to cross from Libya to Europe to flee poverty, among other reasons.

Investigations into the tragedy had shown that one of the three traffickers had drowned in the tragedy, while the other two - an Iraqi and an Egyptian - were arrested. Plane tickets to Casablanca were found in the traffickers' pockets.

According to the survivors, there were some 213 people on board the 16-metre boat, Ragusa police commissioner Girolamo Di Fazio said, a figure which tallies with the AFM's estimates.

The Italian media said the incident had put the Maltese government in a tight spot. Some media said the AFM's decision was in line with the Maltese government's "tough" stance towards illegal immigrants.

A number of Italian newspapers said that while dead people were being picked out of the sea, the Maltese government was busy repatriating 200 Egyptians.

But Dr Abela stood firm, and insisted that the government was repatriating those who did not deserve refugee protection, many of whom were Egyptians.

"While the Italian media might be justified in its criticism over an incident last year, on this occasion we did no wrong," he insisted. In September 2004, Malta was forced to take back 97 immigrants who had been rerouted to Sicily.

Dr Abela pointed out that it was only last week that the AFM spent nine hours towing a boat with 195 illegal immigrants whom the army believed were in danger. This rescue effort was made despite the immigrants' reluctance to enter Malta, he added.