Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/191652
17 News << The man could not speak English, and replying in Arabic to our Maltese, the man confirmed that he was father to twin daughters, however he did not know what had happened to his wife and other daughter. He explained that as the boat capsized, he could only grab one daughter and hold her to his maltatoday, SUNDAY, 13 OCTOBER 2013 chest as they went underwater. He said that his wife was five months' pregnant with twins. Yet, when asked whether his sister-in-law lived in Norway, the man said that he did not have any relatives there. A few minutes later, an email reached us from Norway with the names and ages of the women's family. After we showed the man the names on the phone, he jumped to his feet and asked whether we could call his sister-in-law. With the aid of the Prime Minister's spokesperson, the man called his sister-in-law, and, though he was clearly relieved to reach her, the man broke down in tears as he explained to the woman what had happened to her sister and her niece. On Friday, P-61, the AFM's biggest patrol boat, picked up 150 people and brought them to Malta. The Maltese crew reached the people with a dinghy and launched a life raft, which alone rescued some 60 people. Eventually, the Maltese vessel took aboard some 150 survivors. Others, including a mother and her infant, were evacuated by air to Lampedusa needing urgent medical condition. The AFM also brought the bodies of five dead to Malta: three toddlers, an 11-year-old boy and a woman. Armed forces bring in 147 survivors, death toll could reach 50 THE Maltese armed forces patrol boat P-61 brought 147 shipwrecked asylum seekers to Malta after a 10hour journey. Tragedy had struck at a point 61 nautical miles south of the Italian island of Lampedusa. Italian reports from state news agency ANSA said that as many as 50 migrants could be dead, including Syrians and Palestinians who had set out from Libya to make the treacherous Mediterranean crossing. The current death toll is 34. A Home Affairs spokesperson told MaltaToday that just after 2pm Friday, an AFM aircraft surveilling the sea had spotted the dead body of a three-year-old child. Yesterday Family Minister Marie Louise Coleiro Preca visited the victims and assessed the situation as they landed at Hay Wharf. Malta and Italy are looking into whether any families were separated during the rescue. The authorities in the two countries are in constant contact and efforts are underway to reunite any such families. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat was in contact with his Italian counterpart, Enrico Letter, Friday evening to demand a joint call for action from the EU over migrants' crossings. "This latest humanitarian tragedy shows more than ever the need for action, not words," Muscat said. "This is not a wake-up call for the European Union. We've gone beyond that." This was the second local tragedy at sea in 10 days, the first having taken place off Lampedusa. It left over 200 dead. Muscat and Letta will raise irregular migration on the agenda of the forthcoming meeting of the European Council, but both PMs are saying they want to see "concrete action" – and Muscat "won't be satisfied with words alone". Muscat said he was taking note of comments from EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström of the need for migrants to have legal ways of reaching Europe, and the need for Libya and Tunisia to ensure that traffic didn't leave from their shores. "This is not a Maltese or an Italian problem," Muscat said, "but a European problem. Malta is doing its job and has saved people from a sure death." On her part, Malmström said Friday that the horrible events had raised yet again the urgency of a wider 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." Green Party Chairperson Arnold Cassola said that Muscat's first brush with a migrant tragedy on his doorstep had toned down the belligerence he had shown upon assuming power. "After witnessing dead migrants first-hand, the Prime Minister gets a reality check, and instead of playing the populist macho, does the right thing and talks politics," Cassola said, in reference to the thwarthed pushback of asylum seekers to Libya in June. "There must be changes to the Dublin II rules. Bravo, Prime Minister, but the time for words is over for him too. We greens persuaded our European family that Dublin had to change ages ago. Now follow us. Persuade your socialist prime ministers to unanimously vote to change Dublin II. Anything less is useless blabber," Cassola said. Strangely, the Nationalist Party has not issued any statement on the matter. According to first reports the Malta's armed forces discovered the boat in difficulty in its searchand-rescue area at 4pm on Friday. The boat overturned soon after. An AFM B200 aircraft threw a life raft to begin the rescue operation. The AFM and Italian rescue services then proceeded in a joint action. The Italians saved 56 people, including nine children. The AFM saved 146 people, including 14 children. In addition, the AFM recovered the bodies of four people, including three children. Another 27 people are presumed dead. An Italian doctor was on board the Maltese rescue boat, with Mater Dei Hospital on full alert due to the fear of more deaths. The mortuary at the former general hospital, St Luke's, was prepared in case capacity at Mater Dei was exceeded. At the time of going to print, the Maltese and Italian forces were still trying to recover corpses from the sea.