Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/754383
3 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 23 NOVEMBER 2016 News Thursday TVM 20:50 MOAS rescues 117 people, many more missing from shipwrecked boat JEANELLE MIFSUD MALTA-BASED search-and-res- cue foundation Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) rescued 117 people from a sinking rubber boat yesterday morning, with survi- vors claiming many are still miss- ing. According to the International Organization for Migration, over 4,500 people have died or disap- peared so far this year, making the risky sea voyage from North Africa to Europe the deadliest year on record. According to MOAS, the sur- vivors are being treated by the Red Cross team on board the Responder, but many of them are reportedly suffering from hypo- thermia and various minor inju- ries. It added that arrangements are being made for two of the res- cued to be medically evacuated, due to their critical condition. "About 600 people have been brought to safety between Mon- day night and Tuesday morning, among them many Syrian fami- lies," MOAS said. "Survivors re- count that several people drowned before the MOAS-CRI crew aboard the Responder made it onto the scene to assist them, in- cluding the mother of two surviv- ing children." Besides the survivors, the body of a man who perished at sea en route to Europe was also recov- ered, and is being held in the ship's morgue, beside the corpse of an- other man recovered from the sea last Sunday, MOAS added. At the moment, a total of 241 people are currently aboard the MOAS Responder, while the rest of the people have reportedly been transferred onto other vessels. Last week, MOAS said that smuggling networks had been "industrialised", due to the fact that "in past years, crossings were organised in more manage- able trickles, perhaps a few a day, whereas this year our crews have seen departures organised in large waves." According to MOAS, this change resulted in increased com- petition, representing a new chal- lenge for the smugglers in procur- ing enough rubber boats, engines, and fuel containers to meet the demand. This, in turn, led to un- precedented numbers of migrants and asylum seekers being placed on unseaworthy rubber boats. Marlene Farrugia blasts 'corrupt establishment' after her new party is denied funds TIM DIACONO PARTIT Demokratiku leader Marlene Farrugia has hit out at what she described as a "corrupt establishment" after Parliament refused to allocate a portion of funds to her party. Since Malta's accession to the EU in 2003, Parliament has al- located €200,000 a year to a research fund intended to help political parties carry out EU- related research. The fund has always been split 50/50 – with the PL and the PN r e c e i v i n g € 1 0 0 , 0 0 0 each. F a r r u g i a – who was e l e c t e d to Parlia- ment on the Labour ticket but who later left the party to form the PD – insisted with Speaker Anglu Far- rugia that her party be allocated a por- tion of the funds as well. However, Clerk of the House Ray Scicluna informed Farrugia in a letter that Farrugia forms part of the Opposition and that any parliamentary funds to the PD must therefore be taken out of those allocated to the PN. "The Speaker of the House is of the opinion that if the party you are referring to is registered according to the law, and as long as legal and constitutional ques- tions do not arise regarding the representation of this party in Parliament, your requested al- located amount would need to come from the funds taken by the opposition," Scicluna wrote. The Speaker also denied a request by Farrugia to be al- located a separate time slot to speak in Parliament on Decem- ber 8, when European Parlia- ment President Martin Schulz will address the House ahead of Malta's ascension to the EU ro- tating presidency. In his letter, he reiterated that Farrugia formed part of the Op- position and that any speak- ing time allocated to her must therefore come out of time allo- cated to the PN. "The Partit Demokratiku is fighting against the corrupt es- tablishment," she wrote in a Facebook post, while insisting that "no one will shut us up". F a r r u - gia has b e c o m e the latest p o l i t i c a l leader to c r i t i c i s e the "estab- lishment", a phrase that was widely used in this year's US presidential elections and Brexit referen- dum campaign in the UK. Prime Minister Joseph Mus- cat has argued that he is against the establishment because he is in favour of change, while Op- position leader Simon Busuttil has insisted that Muscat is the establishment as evidenced by the Paceville masterplan and the Panama Papers scandal. Alternattiva Demokratika leader Arnold Cassola today made light of the two leaders' attempts to appropriate the ris- ing global anti-establishment sentiment. "They [Muscat and Busuttil] both say they are not part of the establishment, they both say they are underdogs. Then what is Alternattiva? – the establish - ment and the overcats [sic]?" Marlene Farrugia (centre) with the other executives of the Partit Demokratiku Many of the survivors were suffering from hypothermia and various minor injuries