Frontex, told AFP on Monday it said “all four boats have been accounted for” and there had been no shipwreck in the Mediterranean.
“Two arrived in Sicily and two remain in the Maltese search and rescue area,” Frontex said. “Today, Frontex received information that the missing rubber boat first spotted on Friday arrived in Porto Palo, Sicily.” A “Frontex airplane based in Malta is currently on patrol to make sure that no other vessels in distress are in the area,” it added.
The statement referred to and attributed to AFP said that “Since last Friday, Frontex patrol planes spotted four boats with migrants on board in the Central Med. As of Monday morning, all four boasts have been accounted for, two arrived in Sicily and two remain the Maltese search and rescue area.
“On Friday, Frontex patrol plane spotted three boats with migrants in the Libyan search and rescue area. In accordance with Frontex operational procedures and international law we immediately informed all the relevant MRCCs (Italy, Malta, Libya, Tunisia) of the exact location of the migrant boats.
On Saturday, Frontex patrol plane spotted the fourth migrant boat in the same area. In accordance with Frontex procedures and international law Frontex informed all the relevant MRCCs (Italy, Malta, Libya, Tunisia) of its position.
On Sunday, Frontex patrol plane performed two additional flights to update the position of the boats. Two boats were located in the Maltese search and rescue area and Frontex informed the relevant MRCC.
The third boat first spotted on Friday arrived in Pozzallo in Italy on Sunday morning.
During the patrol flight on Sunday Frontex spotted a deflated rubber boat in the Libyan search and rescue area. The deflated rubber boat did not have an engine and there were no sign of people on the boat or nearby. This information was immediately passed to all relevant MRCC (Italy, Malta, Libya and Tunis). MRCC Rome later confirmed that this boat correlated with an old incident, where the migrants were rescued and the rubber boat was left adrift empty.
Today, Frontex received information that the missing rubber boat first spotted on Friday arrived in Porto Palo, Sicily. Frontex airplane based in Malta is currently on patrol to make sure that no other vessels in distress are in the area.
“This is not the first time it makes such inaccurate information” – Ambassador Saliba
Malta has denied allegations that a boat carrying dozens of migrants had sunk in Malta’s Search and Rescue (SAR) Area. In a telephone contact with The Libya Observer, Maltese Ambassador to Libya, Charles Saliba, said that these allegations are baseless.
Alarm Phone, a migrant rescue NGO, claimed that the migrants sank in Malta’s Search and Rescue Area. Ambassador Saliba said that Alarm Phone maintains regular contact with those who utilise human trafficking services. “This is not the first time it makes such inaccurate information,” he added. The Maltese authorities rescued on Friday a boat with 67 migrants placed in quarantine over COVID-19 concerns.
Meanwhile the Minister for foreign affairs in Malta, said that the Maltese government is appealing to the EU to immediately launch a humanitarian mission to Libya to avoid a disaster brought on by the Libyan migration crisis in combination with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Foreign Minister Evarist Bartolo, on Monday evening, said the government was urging the EU to provide at least €100 million in food, aid, medicine and medical equipment to Libya.
Bartolo stressed that this had to happen sooner rather than later, highlighting that an impending disaster, caused by the reality of migrants fleeing Libya combined with the closure of ports in Malta and Italy, was on the horizon.
The Libyan conflict had been ongoing for years, and the coronavirus has led to a significant deterioration in the situation, the minister said.
“Detention camps are full, and, according to credible reports, thousands of migrants are fleeing or have been given permission to leave the camps. This provides all the ingredients for a major humanitarian disaster,” as things are even more complicated due to the fact that Italy and Malta had closed their ports since their resources needed to be used to treat and contain the spread COVID-19.
“Within the context of a need for migrant rescue which will only grow bigger, and considering our resources being focused elsewhere, we are facing a disaster,” he said.
“The only way of preventing such a humanitarian disaster is for there to be an EU humanitarian mission in Libya giving medical provisions to Libyans and migrants.”
This, Bartolo underlined, would provide migrants an incentive to remain in Libya instead of resorting to “the desperate measure of risking their lives in the Mediterranean Sea.” The mission had to be put in place “imminently” and had to be “substatial”, he emphasised.
Malta is ready to play its part, but it had to be made clear that a challenge on a European dimension requires an EU-level reaction, he said. “If Malta is left alone, women, children and victims of abuse [in Libya] will die.” Bartolo reiterated that Europe had to take action now, “before a humanitarian crisis happens tomorrow.”
