But La Valletta reiterates, we won’t allow ship to dock
06 August, 17:21
(ANSAmed) – BRUSSELS, AUGUST 6 – EU Commissioner for Internal Affairs Cecilia Malmstrom has said that the Maltese authorities have a humanitarian duty to allow the migrants rescued by a Liberia-flagged ship to disembark, noting that failure to do so would be against international law. Malta has refused to allow the captain of the ship, which is carrying over 100 migrants, to dock in the Valletta port.
The commissioner has issued a press release urging Malta to take action and stating that ”according to the information available to the Commission, the master of the ship M/V SALAMIS has fulfilled his humanitarian duties to save the lives of 102 people on the high sea, amongst them four pregnant women, one injured woman as well as a five months old baby. After the rescue, the master of the ship continued his way to the port of destination in Malta. The ship is now closest to Malta and waiting to disembark the rescued people. It is first and foremost important to save the lives of the rescued persons. Any dispute about the responsible search and rescue authority, including the involvement of the Italian and Libyan authorities, as well as the right place of disembarkation does not help the persons in immediate need. These issues should be clarified at a later stage”. She also noted that ”the master of the ship has dispatched an urgent medical request as the injured woman needs immediate hospitalisation”.
The commissioner has issued a press release urging Malta to take action and stating that ”according to the information available to the Commission, the master of the ship M/V SALAMIS has fulfilled his humanitarian duties to save the lives of 102 people on the high sea, amongst them four pregnant women, one injured woman as well as a five months old baby. After the rescue, the master of the ship continued his way to the port of destination in Malta. The ship is now closest to Malta and waiting to disembark the rescued people. It is first and foremost important to save the lives of the rescued persons. Any dispute about the responsible search and rescue authority, including the involvement of the Italian and Libyan authorities, as well as the right place of disembarkation does not help the persons in immediate need.
These issues should be clarified at a later stage”. She also noted that ”the master of the ship has dispatched an urgent medical request as the injured woman needs immediate hospitalisation”.
Malmstrom reiterated that ”it is first and foremost important to save the lives of the rescued persons. Any dispute about the responsible search and rescue authority, including the involvement of the Italian and Libyan authorities, as well as the right place of disembarkation does not help the persons in immediate need. These issues should be clarified at a later stage”.
But Malta reiterated on Tuesday it won’t allow a Liberian-registered tanker carrying 102 migrants rescued off the Libyan coast to dock in Valletta’s port, government sources said.
The statement comes after the European Commission said the Maltese government has a ”humanitarian duty” to allow the migrants, which according to the EU include four pregnant women, one injured woman and a five-month-old baby, to land as soon as possible.
Malta’s attorney general has ordered the M/V Salamis ship, now blocked by three Maltese coast guard cutters just off the island’s territorial waters, to take the migrants back to where it found them, about 40 nautical miles off the coast of Libya.
The shipwrecked migrants are Tripoli’s responsibility, and the tanker’s captain disobeyed orders not to approach the island, Maltese authorities said.
Maltese Navy medics have boarded the tanker to verify the rescued migrants’ health conditions, they added.
Categories: EU Erosion
Engineering Evil 