A new ship sinks off Lampedusa. Italian and Maltese Marines in action (Maj5)

(B2) At the rate of shipwrecks in the Mediterranean, organizing a major rescue operation from Cyprus to Spain — as indicated by Cecilia Malmström, the European Commissioner for Home Affairs — seems to be a necessary domain. But the operations of Search and Rescue are now everyday...

Today, again, a boat loaded with immigrants was " spotted by the rescue center, at 16 p.m., in an "unstable" situation by a Maltese patrol plane in the afternoon, 60 nautical miles south of Lampedusa indicates the HQ of the Maltese Armed Forces (AFM). NB: in fact, halfway between the Libyan coast and Malta.

« A few minutes later, the plane reported that the boat had capsized and many people were in the water. Initial assistance was then provided by the plane which dropped a life raft near the people in distress.. Apparently, at the sight of the plane, the migrants moved on the ship. And that's when it capsized.

A first P61 patrol boat from the Maltese forces arrived first on the spot, “ at 17:51 p.m. » and has « immediately began rescuing people ". It was joined soon after by another Italian patrol vessel, this time the ITS Libra. They were joined by several helicopters from Malta and Lampedusa, as well as a third ship, the Italian frigate I hope.

(Maj) According to an initial assessment given by the Maltese forces, around 200 people could have been rescued. 56 were by theITS Libra (39 men, 8 women and 9 children), 147 were by the P61 (109 men, 19 women and 15 children. 15 by another Italian fishing vessel and the remainder by the Maltese vessel). " The most critical cases were evacuated by helicopter to the medical antennas of Lampedusa. » But several people around would have died. We are talking about fifty dead. The Maltese navy mentions at least 4 bodies recovered and the Italian authorities a balance sheet which could reach 34 dead. The migrant boat contained around 250 people - according to ANSA - including Syrians and Palestinians. This figure was later revised upwards, to around 400 people; the balance sheet could therefore be heavier and amounts to more than 200 dead.

The P61 of the Maltese Navy (B2 archives - credit: Maltese Armed Forces)

Malta calls for European action

(Update2) The Prime Minister of Malta sounded the alarm yesterday in a press conference. " How many people will die before action is taken. Malta and Italy work together. But we have the feeling that we are abandoned in this operation. It is a European problem. These desperate populations looking for a future in Europe. Europe cannot close its eyes. » « The way things are going, we are building a cemetery in our Mediterranean Sea added Joseph Muscat asking “ urgently to the European Union to take measures ».

A shot by the Libyan forces?

(Maj3) If the 20-meter boat would have sunk, according to several testimonies of survivors who reached Malta who confided in a colleague from Malta today, it was because they were caught under fire from a Libyan military vessel which pursued them. " They followed the boat for six hours, ordering them to turn back. They were dressed as civilians. But we could clearly see that they were policemen. As the captain refused. They started shooting. Two people were then reportedly killed. A movement of panic followed which caused the shipwreck they explain. The migrants had left from the port of Zuwarah, in northwestern Libya, paying $3000 each to the militias.

One of the hardest rescues of my life

(Shift4)" I have been doing this kind of work for 10 years and it is one of the most difficult operations of my career. explained Major Russel Caruana in the Times of malta after returning to the island. " It was very hard, in particular because of the great distance at which we operated (120 miles) and the weather conditions which were harsh, but also because of the number of people who were at sea. the type. But this situation was more dramatic than usual »

(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)

Read also: Europe struggles to welcome refugees, including Syrians (Maj)