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2 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 20 AUGUST 2014 News AFM denies Italian media report claiming it pushed migrants away Armed Forces says migrants 'repeatedly refused to be transferred to patrol boat' MATTHEW VELLA THE Armed Forces of Malta has de- nied a report in the Italian newspa- per Il Giornale, claiming allegations that it refuelled a migrant vessel and then pointed in the direction of Italy were "completely unfounded." The Milan newspaper claimed that a boat carrying 279 migrants, includ- ing 66 women and 31 children and a newborn of 20 days, was directed to Pozzallo by the Maltese armed forces, while being monitored by two Maltese patrol boats. The newspaper says migrants res- cued from the boat said they were moving in Malta's direction, but al- leged that members of the AFM pro- vided the migrants with water and biscuits "and drove us into Italian territorial waters." On Thursday, 14 August, 279 mi- grants on a boat that had departed from Libya were brought ashore near Ragusa in southeast Sicily, while the following day, 212 were rescued from another boat and brought ashore off Reggio Calabria at the toe of main- land Italy, and another 1,004 arrived at the port of Naples. The Armed Forces rejected the claims. "The AFM have always acted professionally, including in this par- ticular case. The AFM has always followed its search and rescue obliga- tions. In this case, migrants repeat- edly refused to be transferred onto Maltese patrol vessels. The AFM still provided the necessary safety pre- cautions, including that of remaining in close vicinity in order to render assistance should the need arise," spokesperson Lt Keith Caruana said. "There is a very good relationship between the Rescue Coordination Centres of Malta and Italy which results in thousands of lives being saved," he added. Following the 2013 Lampedusa migrant shipwreck, the Italian gov- ernment decided to strengthen the national system for patrolling the Mediterranean sea by authorising the Mare Nostrum military and hu- manitarian operation to rescue mi- grants and arrest human traffickers. Italy says the total of boat migrants who had arrived this year now stood at 101,480. The operation patrolling the wa- ters between Africa and Sicily be- gan after 366 people drowned when their boat capsized just a mile from the Italian coast. That tragedy fo- cused international attention on the desperate risks taken by many mi- grants who leave the shores of north Africa, mainly from chaotic Libya, in unseaworthy boats, and die in their hundreds. Over the past year, most of the migrants have been refugees fleeing Syria's civil war and Eritrea's harsh military service, according to the United Nations refugee agency (UN- HCR). The UNHCR estimated last month that around 800 boat migrants had died in the Mediterranean so far this year, compared with 600 in the whole of 2013 and 500 in 2012. Families to receive €25 compensation payment for power cut CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 A magisterial in- quiry to establish what caused an explosion at the Marsa distribution centre – the cause of the power outage – was launched. The power failure started after a fault in a cable at the distribution centre sparked an explosion, leading to a f luctuation of the voltage and causing a shut down at the Delimara power station. It is understood that with everything shut down, Enemalta workers could not immediately establish the source of the problem. According to Enemalta CEO Frederick Azzopardi, both the supply and alternative supply were damaged, causing households and businesses in four localities to endure up to 18 hours without electricity. The extensive damage caused to the dis- tribution centre has limited the availability of alternative distribution channels in the region and Mizzi said that Enemalta is car- rying out temporary works to guarantee energy supply and restore alternative con- nections to be in a better position to swiftly adapt to any other unexpected faults with- out disrupting supply. Enemalta has now brought in two con- tainers, each with a temporary switch room, that should be fully operative by Fri- day. The feeders will be switched on until the new equipment to replace the damaged one is brought to Malta. Infrastructural re- pairs are also required. "Troubles are not over as yet, but we are doing all possible to minimise risks of power cuts in those localities directly fed by the Marsa distribution centre. As a gov- ernment, we are committed to address both the generation and distribution systems," Mizzi said. The energy minister added that the in- vestment by Electrogas and Shanghai Elec- tric Power will address the generation part of the problem while a €200 million cash injection into Enemalta will be used to ad- dress the distribution side. Last week, the SMEs Small Chamber, the GRTU, the Chamber of Commerce and the Malta Employers Association, among oth- ers, demanded that the government offer compensation to business outlets that suf- fered "great costs" because of the blackout. The Energy Minister said meetings took place with the business community who put forward their own proposals on how to improve the situation. "It is not an issue of compensation but on their repeated calls for an overhaul of the energy system," he said. In the coming weeks the government will be holding a number of meetings with busi- ness leaders to explore ways to facilitate bill payments. A switch room identical to the one which suffered extensive damage (bottom) PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAY ATTARD

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