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MALTA HAS REFUSED to allow 102 Libyan refugees – including four pregnant women, one injured woman and a five-month-old baby – disembark a Liberian oil tanker which rescued them from a leaky dinghy.
Despite pressure from the European Union, the government insists it has fulfilled its obligations under international and humanitarian laws, claiming that the captain of the M/V Salamis vessel that rescued the migrants “flouted rules for commercial purposes”.
In a Twitter update posted earlier today, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said the country was “in possession of evidence showing Salamis ignored search and rescue rules and Italy’s instructions”.
He added that Malta could not be expected to step in for “irresponsible shipowners”, referring to the captain of the oil tanker.
According to European Commissioner Cecilia Malmström, the master of the ship fulfilled his humanitarian duties to save the lives of the 102 people on the high sea. They were rescued from their badly-damaged boat on Monday about 80kms off the Libyan coast yesterday.
She said it should be priority to save the lives of those rescued people, despite the “particular migratory pressure that Malta is facing”, noting that the ship is now closest to the nation.
“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 said in a statement,” she continued.
At this point in time, it is the humanitarian duty of the Maltese authorities to allow these persons to disembark. Sending the ship back to Libya would be contrary to international law. The master of the ship has dispatched an urgent medical request as the injured woman needs immediate hospitalisation.
Malta claims that the tanker was not granted permission to enter Malta’s waters.
(YouTube: MaltaToday dotcomdotmt)
The government also believes that the captain refused to obey an order from a patrolling Italian navy ship to take the migrants to the nearest available port – which was Libya.
Amnesty International has added its voice to those calling for Malta to allow the group land.
“The Maltese authorities have a humanitarian duty to ensure the safety and well-being of those rescued. They must allow the boat to disembark in Malta and its passengers to be given any necessary medical treatment, as well as a chance to apply for asylum,” said Jezerca Tigani, deputy director for Amnesty Europe and Central Asia.
“Otherwise, the highest price may be paid by the women, men and children who may have to spend another night at sea with the fear of being sent back to Libya.”
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.
Malta had a record 880 arrivals in July with some 1,200 in total having landed on the island so far this year.
Italian Interior Minister Angelo Alfano has likened the traffickers to “merchants of death” who must be stopped.
Since 1999, more than 200,000 people have arrived on Italy’s southern Lampedusa island, which is, along with the Greece-Turkey border, one of the main gateways for undocumented migrants and refugees into the European Union.
-Additional reporting by AFP
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Decided to put off part of the refurbishment work on a house I had bought just before covid struck. Thought I’d borrow less and do it in 2-3 years later when I’d saved up a bit more. One global pandemic and ongoing major war later, seems I made the wrong choice! On the other hand I’m alive and although I need a new roof, at least my house is still here to attach it to.
I spoke with a local builder last week who told me that there are jobs being cancelled all over the place due to costs increasing. He has 2 months of work ahead and after that it’s looking fairly uncertain.
@Lee King Buckett: Happening everywhere. A buddy of mine in Queens, NY priced work before C-19. $25 a sheet of plywood at that time. Their clients gave them the green light to start work after restrictions loosened up a bit. He went to his timber providers and the sheets of plywood were now $54 per sheet. Hard to make money on a job where the price of materials doubled between the original quotation and the start of the job!
Shocking times.
@Lee King Buckett: oh good they should be able to do my paving then I’ll have the materials ready for them. Funny the guy I got to quote recently said the materials would cost €500 but I managed to get a quote for delivery of same for just €278 by ringing the builders providers directly.
@Sean: I’m sure there’s plenty of dishonest builders/tradesmen who will use this excuse to up the price of jobs unnecessarily
News comment by Monday…… New children’s hospital is going to cost another 100miliiion due to materials increase in price…..
@Greig Fairfield: And the rest!!!
I can’t understand how prices went up so quickly. Most of the timber and steel is and has been in stock in providers all over the country. I get the increase on new stock but surely stock bought before all this should be sold in accordance with the price it was bought at?? Am I missing something?
@Niall Gannon: Supply, demand & capitalism.
@Niall Gannon: most general plank and sheet material that comes into a builder providers yard on a Monday is usually gone by the following Monday so the stock is always being refreshed. We were getting weekly prices from most of our suppliers for about three months at the beginning of last year.
Pricing mdf today and was told it’s going up another 15% at the end of the month.
@Niall Gannon: it has already been said in response to your comment, but the situation was getting worse even before the Pandemic, and now it has snowballed. It is the same for anything any country imports. Nothing is stored anymore. Countries rely on a steady stream of imports. This is one of the effects of globalisation. If the imports stop, are drastically slowed down, or increase in price, then the effects are pretty immediate.
@David Stapleton: Brexit, Covid, War – none of these have helped.
My occupation is a carpenter,nearly €30 for one length of 6×2,over €50 for one sheet of plywood it’s completely unsustainable.ive had a good few people cancel jobs.construction could be hitting another big recession again very soon
Timber prices are increasing because of a mixture of incompetence in the department and objections from every kind of nut job to anyone planting a crop of commercial timber, or felling it when it’s mature.
These so- called ‘environmentalists’ have no problem with timber farming, as long as its done in other countries and the end product shipped here at huge cost.
@John Mulligan: well that is true and a lot of farmers who got into forestry and weren’t able to harvest the crop due to objections are getting out of it again. The situation was widely flagged about four years before it became a major issue but nothing was being done about it. Meanwhile the government are plucking figures out of the sky promising new housing completions. What are they going to build them with and who’s going to pay for them?
They’re all r@ts
8 x 4 sheets of wood price is increasing daily at this stage, bug shortage too supposedly, we cant get our hands on laser birch ply wood at all
Time for the government to step in and force regulations to be changed to allow recycling of concrete to be certified for the construction of buildings. Concrete from demolished buildings and foundations is being either dumped in landfill or sitting in stockpiles, a cheap material option going to waste.
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