[SLIDESHOW] Salamis heads to Italy as Malta refuses access to rescued asylum seekers

The oil tanker M/T Salamis has sailed towards Syracuse, Italy, with the 102 migrants it rescued on Monday aboard, government sources confirmed at midnight on Tuesday.

Italy, the government later said in a statement, had accepted to take in the migrants who will in disembark at Syracuse. Sources had previously confirmed that diplomatic discussions between Malta and Italy intensified in the past hours with the result that Italy has agreed to take in the migrants.

The Maltese government was also in contact with Greece.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat thanked Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta and expressed his satisfaction that relations between the two governments would continue to flourish. "During this crisis Malta held its legitimate position firm... A position which sent a clear message," Muscat said.

The development came hours after home affairs minister Manuel Mallia addressed a press conference insisting that Malta would not allow the Liberian-flagged tanker in its territorial waters after having "ignored" specific instructions by the Italian and Maltese governments to deliver the migrants to the nearest port of call, at Khoms in Libya.

Part of the group of 102 asylum seekers that popped out onto the deck of the oil tanker M/T Salamis appeared to be relatively calm and composed when MaltaToday's photojournalist Chris Mangion arrived at the spot where the tanker was drifting, around 32 nautical miles southwest of Malta.

@JRSEurope welcomes news that Italy will take 102 migrants after Malta refused entry for 3 days http://t.co/2xHwK0qBwa #Salamis @JRSMalta — JRS Europe (@JRSEurope) August 7, 2013

At 10am on Wednesday, European Commissioner Cecilia Malmström thanked Italy for taking in the 102 stranded migrants.

Thank You Italy for taking the 102 stranded migrants who were saved to days ago!/ CM — Cecilia Malmström (@MalmstromEU) August 7, 2013

CONTINUES BELOW

After three hours aboard a high-speed dinghy sailing at a speed of 24 knots, Mangion arrived on the spot where the 200-metre-long Salamis, a Liberian-flagged tanker chartered by Greek shipping company Mantinia, was drifting with the current, its engines switched off, its decks appearing deserted.

The Salamis towered above the Armed Forces of Malta's search and rescue vessel and the P52 patrol boat, the vessels monitoring the tanker, and commanded by Capt. Etienne Scicluna. The tanker's as-yet-unnamed captain later emerged on deck to monitor the delivery of supplies from an AFM helicopter.

"He has been cooperative, and we boarded the tanker twice," an AFM officer told MaltaToday. "The situation on board is calm, but there is no real organisation. The migrants are all over the ship, much to the dismay of the tanker's crew."

None of the migrants, who were rescued on Sunday evening by the Salamis on orders of the Italian rescue coordination centre, had requested medical evacuation, the AFM said.

The Armed Forces yesterday kept monitoring the movement of the Salamis, which the Maltese government will not grant permission to deliver the migrants to Malta, while coordinating the delivery of vital supplies of food and water. The tanker was reportedly en route to Italy as diplomats brokered an agreement late on Tuesday night.

As an AFM helicopter lowered a net carrying the supplies, a number of migrants came to the side of the ship to watch. The captain, the only non-Filipino crewmember, was also seen on the deck throughout the operation.

MaltaToday yesterday also confirmed that the Liberian maritime authority, under whose flag the Salamis is registered, was finalising a complaint to the United Nations.

As an industry source said, the Liberian maritime authority was irked at the Greek owners of the Salamis, who had refused to take the Italian RCC's guidance to turn back to Khoms, where it had left on Sunday, after rescuing the migrants at a spot 45 nautical miles north of the Libyan port.

But later, they accepted the fact that the case was a humanitarian one which merited the involvement of a coastal state.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat convened a security meeting at Villa Francia in Lija, where he told those convened that he would object to the request for the Salamis to enter Malta. The meeting was told that the owners of the vessel wanted to enter Malta because of commercial considerations, namely to deliver their cargo of gasoil.

At the meeting, Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia, AFM Commander Martin Xuereb, and Attorney General Peter Grech agreed that the owners of the vessel had ignored the directions of the Italian RCC and that the Salamis should have been steered back to Libya, since that was the nearest port of call.

MaltaToday is also informed that the Greek owners of the vessel, Mantinia, informed the shipmaster of the Salamis not to return to Libya.