Tanker "Salamis" carrying migrants stopped from entering Malta

05.08.2013 / 11:00 / Malta

In the night of the 4th to the 5th of August 2013, the MV Salamis, a tanker ship flying the Liberian flag but owned and managed by a Greek company, was requested by the Italian Coast Guards to assist 102 migrants in distress located 45 nautical miles off the Libyan coast (within the undeclared Libyan SAR zone), near by the tanker's location as it left the Libyan port of Al Khums heading towards Malta. The tanker was requested by the Italian authorities to disembark the migrants in the port of Al Khums, the vessel’s last port of call and the closest port to the site of the rescue. The Tanker however refused and continued heading towards its planed next port of Valletta. The Maltese Government informed the captain that it would not be allowed to disembark the migrants in Malta. The tanker was stopped by the Armed Forces of Malta (P 52), 24 nautical miles off the island.

On August the 6th 2013, the European Commission(EC)ordered Malta to allow the migrants to disembark in response to the urgent humanitarian needs of the passengers.
Several statements were made by NGOs, including Aditus, JRS, the Migrants’ Network for Equality, SOS Malta, Kopin, Integra Foundation, the Foundation for Shelter and Support to Migrants and the Organisation for Friendship in Diversity, who issued a statement in which they said:
"We remind Italy and Malta that the rescue operation should result in the migrants being disembarked at a safe port. We subscribe to, and strongly urge an interpretation of safe that is not limited to immediate physical safety but which also looks at the human rights situation the rescued persons would be exposed to. Will any rescued asylum-seekers have the opportunity to present their asylum claims in Libya, or will they be forcibly returned to their countries of origin? Will they be locked up in detention centres that violate their human dignity? Will they be exposed to risks of torture, rape, assault and other forms of physical and psychological violence? Will vulnerable individuals be provided with the necessary support?"

On the 7th of August 2013, the Italian authorities finaly accepted to allow the Salamis to disembark the 102 migrants in the port of Syracuse.

The trajectories of the vessels in question is reconstituted based on automated vessel tracking data (AIS) as provided by Marinnetraffic.com

Last update: 14:12 Nov 01, 2013

Sources

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130805/local/tanker-carrying-migrants.480832

http://www.boats4people.org/index.php/en/news/press-releases/622-are-mediterranean-states-dreaming-of-a-qeuropean-papua-new-guineaq-where-they-can-lock-up-their-boat-people

http://w2eu.net/2013/08/06/solidarity-with-the-crew-of-salamis-who-rescued-102-boatpeople-and-are-blocked-on-open-sea-by-maltese-maritime-forces/

http://aditus.org.mt/aditus_foundation/Home/Entries/2013/8/5_Preservation_of_life_should_be_the_top-most_priority%2C_joint_NGO_statement.html

http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/en/newsdetails/news/national/SLIDESHOW-Salamis-adrift-Malta-refuses-access-to-rescued-asylum-seekers-20130806

Credibility:

Tanker "Salamis" carrying migrants stopped from entering Malta

Border police patrols
While the exact location of patrols is of course constantly changing, this line indicates the approximate boundary routinely patrolled by border guards’ naval assets. In the open sea, it usually correspond to the outer extent of the contiguous zone, the area in which “State may exercise the control necessary to prevent infringement of its customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws” (UNCLOS, art. 33). Data source: interviews with border police officials.
Coastal radars
Approximate radar beam range covered by coastal radars operating in the frame of national marine traffic monitoring systems. The actual beam depends from several different parameters (including the type of object to be detected). Data source: Finmeccanica.
Exclusive Economic Zone
Maritime area beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea in which the coastal state exercises sovereign rights for the purposes of exploring and exploiting, conserving and managing the natural resources, whether living or non-living, the seabed and its subsoil and the superjacent waters. Its breadth is 200 nautical miles from the straight baselines from which the territorial sea is measured (UNCLOS, Arts. 55, 56 and 57). Data source: Juan Luis Suárez de Vivero, Atlas of the European Seas and Oceans
Frontex operations
Frontex has, in the past few years, carried out several sea operations at the maritime borders of the EU. The blue shapes indicate the approximate extend of these operations. Data source: Migreurop Altas.
Mobile phone coverage
Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network coverage. Data source: Collins Mobile Coverage.
Oil and gas platforms
Oil and gas platforms in the Mediterranean. Data source:
Search and Rescue Zone
An area of defined dimensions within which a given state is has the responsibility to co-ordinate Search and Rescue operations, i.e. the search for, and provision of aid to, persons, ships or other craft which are, or are feared to be, in distress or imminent danger. Data source: IMO availability of search and rescue (SAR) services - SAR.8/Circ.3, 17 June 2011.
Territorial Waters
A belt of sea (usually extending up to 12 nautical miles) upon which the sovereignty of a coastal State extends (UNCLOS, Art. 2). Data source: Juan Luis Suárez de Vivero, Atlas of the European Seas and Oceans