MaltaMedia.com

The five Eritrean migrants spotted by the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM) on Wednesday afternoon were in good health and refused to be rescued, insisting that they continue on their North-West course, the AFM said on Friday in response to various local and international media reports.

According to the rescued Eritreans, the five are the only survivors of a group of 80 migrants who left Libya on the 28th of July.

In a press release, the AFM said it felt it was necessary to clarify the facts about the five migrants rescued off the Italian island of Lampedusa on Thursday by the Guardia di Finanza.

The AFM said that a maritime patrol aircraft had spotted the five Eritrean migrants on Wednesday afternoon, and directed one of the AFM’s surface assets towards it. When the AFM vessel reached the illegal immigrants’ dinghy, it found that the five migrants were in good spirits and in good health, and that their dinghy was in a good condition and with its outboard motor running. When asked if they wanted to be brought to Malta, the five refused and insisted in continuing on their North-West course to their intended destination. The AFM, whilst providing humanitarian aid as per its international obligations, eventually informed the competent Italian authorities accordingly, through the European Patrolling Network (EPN).

With regards to the claim that the Eritreans arrived in Italy in a very bad state, the AFM said that until such time as the AFM was in contact with these Eritreans, they were in a good state of health, and refused to be picked up by the AFM and brought in to Malta.

The AFM said it informed their Italian counterparts about the presence of the dinghy early enough on Thursday morning, and that enabled the Guardia di Finanza to send out a rescue launch to pick them up when the immigrants dinghy was still ten nautical miles from Lampedusa. “At no time did the AFM patrol boat lose contact with the dinghy from the moment it was intercepted until the immigrants were recovered by the Italian Guardia di Finanza,” the AFM said.

Furthermore, the AFM said, an aerial patrol spotted eight corpses at sea spread over a large area astride the Maltese and Libyan search and rescue regions. “The sighted corpses were noted to be in an advanced state of decomposition and, till present, none of the evidence related to these corpses points towards their having originated from the same boat as the five Eritreans who yesterday where recovered off Lampedusa by the Italian Guardia di Finanza.”

The UNHCR on Friday condemned what it called “indifference” towards illegal immigrants.

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