Second Lampedusa tragedy provokes call for concrete EU action on migration

Constantly Updated

Malta has coordinated the search and rescue of a group of at least 206 migrants whose boat capsized, 61.4 nautical miles south off Lampedusa. 27 dead bodies have been collected by armed forces so far.

In an address at 9:15pm, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said the incident was "another wake up call for Europe".

"How many more people have to die before action is taken? Malta and Italy are working together and we feel abandoned on this operation. This is a European problem. These desperate people are looking for a future in Europe and Europe cannot go blind. The seas around us have turned into a cemetery," he said.

The AFM said there were 56 survivors - 39 men, eight women and nine infants - on an Italian warship. Another 150 survivors - 113 men, 20 women and 17 children - were on the AFM patrol boat.

"We have saved 150 people. Others required urgent medical attention, and have been airlifted to the island of Lampedusa," Muscat said.

"The rescue could take 10 hours until these migrants reach Malta, with some migrants unable to survive the journey. Dead bodies might still be recovered. Mater Dei Hospital is on full alert to give medical attention to these people. We have given instructions to open the mortuary room at St Luke's Hospital because we might not have enough room at Mater Dei Hospital."

Muscat and Italian prime minister Enrico Letta have been in communication, and agreed to raise the matter at the next European Council meeting. "We are the European frontier, it's not just our problem, it's Europe's problem. We have done our duty to save people today. Had it not been for the Maltese armed forces that effected the rescue mission and thrown a life-raft, more people would have died."

Telephone call between PM Muscat and @EnricoLetta on joint rescue operation between #Malta and #Italy. — Joseph Muscat (@JosephMuscat_JM) October 11, 2013

Muscat had harsh words for the EU's leaders. "So far, Europe has only had words to give us. I'm not going to emerge satisfied from the next European Council meeting unless we get concrete action."

Muscat said that apart from strengthening Libya's porous borders, he said he will hear proposals from the European Commission on legal ways of organising migration to the EU for asylum seekers.

European home affairs commissioner Cecilia Malmström said she followed the ongoing rescue operations by Malta and Italy "with sadness and anxiety".

Statement on the boat capsized in the channel of Sicily: Following rescue operations with sadness and anxiety http://t.co/PU33NjhqJm /JL — Cecilia Malmström (@MalmstromEU) October 11, 2013

"Unfortunately the incident has caused new victims and I express my condolences to their families and my support and gratitude to Italy and Malta and the people who are carrying out the rescue operations, whose courage and quick reaction have contributed to reducing the death toll.

"These new horrible events are happening while we still have the shocking images of the tragedy in Lampedusa in our minds and stress even more strongly the urgency of a wide Frontex search and rescue operation in the Mediterranean, from Cyprus to Spain, to better detect and assist boats in distress. I reiterate my call to all EU Member States to quickly make available the necessary resources to allow Frontex to define the details of such an operation."

The Armed Forces of Malta said the boat had been followed by the rescue coordination centre and located by AFM aircraft. "Reports were that the craft, although underway towards Lampedusa, appeared unstable. A few minutes later, the aircraft reported that the boat had capsized and that numerous persons were in the water. Initial assistance was provided by the aircraft which dropped a life-raft in close proximity of the persons in distress."

The AFM said that at the moment of the rescue operation, the migrants' boat was closer to the Italian island of Lampedusa, than it was to Malta.

The migrants are expected in Malta during the night.

It is confirmed that Italy's navy vessel ITS Libra had recovered at 56 survivors including 39 males, 8 females and 9 infants or children. P61 has recovered 150 persons including 113 males, 20 females and 17 children. At least four deceased persons have also been recovered. A significant number of the survivors were rescued from a life raft deployed by an AFM B200 aircraft immediately after the capsize of the craft.

The more critical cases aboard P61 are currently being evacuated by helicopter to medical facilities in Lampedusa.

The AFM's patrol boat P61 was first to arrive on scene at around 5:51pm and immediately initiated a search and rescue operation. It was joined shortly afterwards by the Italian patrol vessel ITS Libra. "SAR activities are continuing at this time and further updates will be provided when available," the AFM said.

Hundreds of people were in the sea, the Italian navy said according to news agency ANSA.

In her statement, Cecilia Malmström said: "In the aftermath of the Lampedusa tragedy we heard solidarity expressions from all EU countries, but these will remain only empty words if they are not followed by concrete actions. I also call on North African countries, in particular Libya, to fight more effectively the criminals who put these people in unseaworthy vessels and organise these journeys of death.

"I wish to repeat my call to Member States to engage more in resettlement of refugees in order to find safe ways for them to receive protection in the EU."

Earlier Friday morning, Italian divers found another body from the refugee shipwreck last week off the coast of the island of Lampedusa, raising the death toll in the tragedy to 312.

Only 155 survivors were rescued out of an estimated 500 people, most of them Eritreans and Somalis, on the boat which departed from Libya.

Last week's disaster was one of the worst in a long migrant crisis that has seen tens of thousands of people arriving in small, unsafe boats in southern Italy. Lampedusa, a tiny island located midway between Sicily and Tunisia, has borne the brunt.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 32,000 have arrived in southern Italy and Malta this year alone, around two thirds of whom have filed requests for asylum.