Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/240181
4 News maltatoday, SUNDAY, 12 JANUARY 2014 PN renews call for information on Lampedusa tragedy THE Nationalist Party has renewed a call for clear information surrounding the Lampedusa tragedy, after a Freedom of Information request by MaltaToday demanding the specific details of the rescue mission was turned down by the Armed Forces of Malta. 270 asylum seekers from Palestine, Syria and other African countries perished in the October 2013 tragedy but questions on the rescue operation have so far gone unanswered. MaltaToday has now asked for a review of the AFM's refusal, before submitting a complaint to the Information and Data Protection Commissioner. "Newspapers have submitted questions, the Opposition has issued two statements and the government replied with deafening silence," the Opposition said. "Such an attitude by the government is unacceptable, especially considering that the case involves the deaths of 270 immigrants in extraordinary circumstances. The more information it holds back, the more it gives the impression it has something to hide." The PN said it was the government's responsibility to answer as soon as possible all questions that are being made. In a reaction, an AFM spokesperson said that the army had acted according to international rules and obligations. "The result of this was that many lives were saved thanks to the intervention of the army," AFM spokesperson Keith Caruana said. Just over 200 lives were saved by the Maltese and the Italians during the shipwreck. The AFM first located the boat at 4pm on 11 October, using its King Air aircraft – but that was three hours after the Italian coast guard informed the Maltese army with the coordinates of the boat in distress. It is crucial to learn at what time the Hawker Beechcraft King Air plane left Malta after Rome's Coordination Centre passed on the rescue mission at 1.05pm. A chronology of the events of the day as relayed by Admiral Felicio Angrisano to Italian weekly L'Espresso, revealed that the Italians offloaded the responsibility for the search-and-rescue mission to Malta, when an Italian naval asset – the ITS Libra – was closer to the boat in distress. Although the migrants' boat was located within Malta's search and rescue zone, the boat was also 60 nautical miles (113km) south of Lampedusa island, and 218km away from Malta. What is unclear at this stage is whether Italy and Malta were collaborating with each other at that point when, at 1.05pm, the Italians decided to pass the buck to Malta. While the Italians say they passed on the rescue coordination to Malta at 1.05pm, it is unclear as to what took place between this hour and the AFM's location of the boat at Migrants arriving to Malta from Lampedusa rescued by the Armed Forces of Malta last October 4pm. Admiral Angrisano says the time the King Air located the boat is at 4.22pm. According to L'Espresso, Italy's Libra patrol boat – apart from the merchant vessels Stadt Bremerhaven and the Tyrusland, respectively carrying flags of the Marshall Islands and the United Kingdom – was already 27 miles away from the rescue point. From data collected by Goldsmiths University's oceanographic project, it is believed that the Libra – out on patrol to protect Italian fishermen from Libyan militias – could have made it to the rescue point within 90 minutes at its top speed of 37 km per hour. What is sure is that the Italians did not despatch the Libra any sooner. In fact it was only after the AFM's patrol boat P61 arrived on the scene at a time between 5.07pm and 5.15pm, that it alerted the Italians for assistance. As confirmed by Admiral Angrisano, the Libra and Espero naval assets, as well as coast guard and Guardia fi Finanza, arrived on the scene soon after. The Health Ministry said the controversial Mater Dei marquee was removed yesterday Ministry says Mater Dei marquee 'lacked sensitivity' MIRIAM DALLI THE Health Ministry has admitted that a decision to move the reception area of Mater Dei's day care unit under a marquee in the adjacent car park "lacked sensitivity". Just 24 hours after workers were seen erecting a tent and a marquee outside the day care unit – only to be ordered to be pulled down by the Prime Minister – the ministry said that discussions on this decision "should have been more sensitive and prudent towards the patients and their families". The ministry said the structures were to be completely removed yesterday. The original plan was to house more beds in the day care unit's reception area. In its statement, the ministry referred to the challenging hospital situation it had inherited from the previous administration, due to bed shortages. "The hospital lacks the necessary bed numbers to cater for present and future demands. The ministry is currently taking both temporary and long-term measures to increase the number of beds," it said. Hospital beds increased by 48 during 2013, and are set to increase by 52 other beds this year and 68 beds in 2015. The parliamentary secretary for the elderly Franco Mercieca has also embarked on new public-private partnerships that will increase 47 beds at the Livelife Physical Rehabilitation Centre. A total of 300 beds will be added in private residences. The ministry said that Mater Dei had "increased its efficiency and improved the turnover of social cases", and that the tent's set-up had been a temporary measure, one of the "several solutions that the administration is considering to avoid postponing day case operations". The ministry said Mater Dei will be forced to increase its acute beds by 22 in the immediate present, because of patient demand. "The ministry is looking at all possible ways to make sure that the service provided by the day care surgery will not be affected, as happened in the past, by the increase in demand expected in the coming weeks." A call for offers has been issued just in the event that day case operations would have to be transferred to private hospitals, in order not to postpone any operations. The ministry reassured the public that it was also looking into more permanent solutions so that the problem of bed shortages would be addressed with a structured plan.