Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/499233
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 22 APRIL 2015 4 News Notice of meeting to be held in public e Malta Environment & Planning Authority will meet on ursday 23 rd April 2015 at 14:00 hours at the MEPA boardroom, St. Francis Ravelin, Floriana, to discuss the following: DETERMINATION OF DEVELOPMENT CONTROL APPLICATIONS: PA 2011/13: Site at, Windmill Cottage, Triq Annibale Preca, Lija. Part demolition of existing and construction of 4 semi detached villas. PA 3057/14: Site at, Boathouse, 69, Il-Bajja tad-Dwejra, San Lawrenz. To replace ceiling of boathouse using same method of construction; dismantle and re-construction of small room using weathered stone and construct boundary wall. PA 3673/14: Site at, no.13, Il-Bajja tad-Dwejra, San Lawrenz. To re-construct boathouse which collapsed during the replacement of dangerous roof on same footprint of that approved in PA 5740/00. PA 6904/04: Site at, 108, Pjazza Tad-Dwejra, Dwejra l/o, San Lawrenz. To sanction minor works on the facade and on the interior of existing dwelling and subdivision into two separate units. PA 5759/00: Site at, Boathouse 96, Id-Dwejra, Limits of, San Lawrenz. To sanction the construction of a boathouse. PA 3732/04: Site at, 106, Id-Dwejra, Limits of, San Lawrenz. To sanction additions to existing summer residence consisting of room at ground oor. PA 0258/15: Site at, Boathouse 8, Id-Dwejra, San Lawrenz. To sanction the construction of a boathouse and its use (Class 6B) originally approved in PA 5774/00 (permit not issued). Subject to the maximum seating capacity, seats can be reser ved on request for the applicant and registered objectors. Remaining seating is lled on a rst come rst served basis. RESERVATIONS: 2290 2018 17 th April, 2015 www.mepa.org.mt CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 "We hope that concrete action is taken by the EU council … there has been too much talk and little action," Busuttil said. He said that the Nationalist MEPs – mostly Roberta Metsola – have made repeated calls for the deployment of naval opera- tions as effective as Mare Nos- trum and an operation modelled on the anti-piracy mission in So- malia. UNHCR: deadliest incident on record UNHCR has now interviewed most of the survivors of Satur- day's boat tragedy in the Medi- terranean. According to the survivors, their boat departed from Tripoli in Libya on Saturday morning with some 850 people on board, including many children. Among those on board were some 350 Eritreans, as well as people from Syria, Somalia, Sierra Leone, Mali, Senegal, Gambia, Ivory Coast and Ethiopia. Only 28 people are known to have survived the shipwreck, in- cluding a young man from Bang- ladesh who was transported by helicopter to a hospital in Cata- nia, Sicily, on Sunday, and 27 peo- ple who were disembarked later by the Italian Coast Guard in Ca- tania. From available information and the various accounts we've had, UNHCR now believes the number of fatalities to have been over 800, making this the deadli- est incident in the Mediterranean we have ever recorded. The UNHCR welcomed the EU responsibility-sharing measures contained in a 10-point plan, such as asylum processing, relocation, and resettlement, which provide a welcome starting point for this response. "UNHCR would also urge that such measures be expanded to further strengthen the asylum and protection component of the plan, including developing a ro- bust search and rescue operation, along the lines of Mare Nostrum, which places an emphasis on sav- ing thousands of lives; making a firm commitment to receive a sig- nificant number of refugees for resettlement; providing legal al- ternatives, such as enhanced fam- ily reunification, private sponsor- ship schemes, and work and study visas, so that persons in need of international protection do not need to resort to such dangerous voyages." The UNHCR also called for sys- tem of support for those countries receiving the most arrivals (Italy and Greece), and distributing re- sponsibility for arrivals to avoid the current situation where a few countries are receiving most asylum-seekers, mainly Germany and Sweden, including through a comprehensive application of Dublin III and an intra-EU pilot relocation project for Syrians." Survivors interviewed by UNHCR European Commissioner to come to Malta for migrants' funeral service Italy arrests two shipwreck survivors suspected of human trafficking MIRIAM DALLI THE European Commissioner for Migration, Dimitris Avramopou- los, is coming to Malta tonight to attend the funeral service for the migrants who died in Saturday night's tragedy. The service is being held tomor- row morning. Italian coast guard vessel Bruno Gregoretti docked in Malta on Monday morning, bringing with it 24 bodies and 28 survivors – two of whom turned out to be smug- glers. The two men – identified as Mohammed Ali Malek and Mah- mud Bikhit and who witnessed the transfer of the cadavers onto the waiting hearses – were arrested in Italy as soon as the Gregoretti docked in Catania, with the other survivors. The bodies, which are to be bur- ied here, were then carried into waiting hearses and transferred to the hospital morgue. MaltaToday is informed that 18 autopsies were carried out by Tuesday afternoon. An interfaith ceremony will be carried out tomorrow morning, after which the perished migrants will be buried at the Addolorata Cemetery. According to the UNHCR, the tragedy – which has claimed the lives of some 700 migrants – was "the deadliest incident in the Med- iterranean we have ever recorded ". The UNHCR said 1,300 deaths were reported in April alone, making it the deadliest month on record. THE captain and a crew member of a boat that capsized off Libya on Sunday, killing around 800 migrants, have been arrested on suspicion of human trafficking. The two suspects were among 27 survivors of the shipwreck who ar- rived in Sicily late on Monday on a coastguard vessel. Italian Infrastructure Minister Graziano Del- rio said that Catania's prosecutor, Gio- vanni Salvi, had ordered the arrests of the two men. Italian officials said that the pair were the Tunisian captain of the migrant boat and his Syrian first mate. "Prosecutor Salvi has made two ar- rests this evening of persons involved; that shows Italian justice is working," Mr Delrio told journalists in Catania, adding that a homicide investigation has been opened into the tragedy. Salvi said that hundreds of migrant passengers had been locked in the ship's hold, while hundreds more were crammed on its upper deck. The boat reportedly capsized after an attempted rescue by a Portuguese merchant ship caused panic among the migrants. On Monday, the EU agreed on a 10- point action plan to try to ease the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean. Search-and-rescue operations will be stepped up, and a campaign to destroy traffickers' boats will be launched. Funds for Frontex will increase and its rescue operation Triton will be ex- panded. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini de- scribed the action plan as a "strong reaction from the EU to the tragedies" that "shows a new sense of urgency and political will". "We are developing a truly European sense of solidarity in fighting hu- man trafficking – finally so," Mogherini said. As the talks between EU foreign ministers took place in Luxembourg late on Monday, Italy and Malta said that at least two other rescues were taking place. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said one of the vessels was a dinghy off the Libyan coast with about 100-150 migrants on board, while the other was a larger boat carrying 300 people. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has described Sunday's shipwreck as "a game changer", warning that "the history books will judge Europe very harshly if it fails to take action". PHOTOGRAPHY BY RAY ATTARD The few bodies that were recovered of the hundreds who died will be buried in Malta tomorrow Dimitris Avramopoulos