20 UK nationals brought to Malta from Libya before catching a commercial flight to their home country.
Miriam Dalli / John Pisani
A group of UK nationals was brought to Malta from Libya in an evacuation operation that follows fresh fights in Tripoli’s main airport. The group arrived late on Saturday afternoon.
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More than 10 people died in a rescue operation during which hundreds of immigrants in an operation coordinated by the Armed Forces of Malta last night.
Those rescued are on their way to Italy and the dead on their way to Malta. They are expected to arrive at around noon tomorrow.
A spokesman for the government said about 400 migrants were in a boat that was taking in water. They were in Malta’s search and rescue area but closer to Lampedusa.
Statement issued by the Ministry of Home and National Security
Yesterday afternoon a ‘memorandum of understanding’ was signed between the Ministry of Home and National Security, in the Maltese Governments’ name and the Ministry of Libyan Home in the Libyan Governments’ name. The signing of this memorandum happened between Minister Mallia and the Libyan Minister Saaleh M. Abdurraheem Maaziq.
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Mit einem Schiff und Drohnen will eine maltesische „NGO“ mit Verbindungen zu US- und EU-Schaltzentralen angeblich auf Flüchtlingsrettung im Mittelmeer gehen. Die „NGO“ entstammt organisatorisch dem Personal der maltesischen Militär- und Geheimdienstspitze mit Einsatzerfahrungen in den jüngsten globalen Kriegen. Die Rettung von Boat-people soll nicht dadurch erfolgen, dass Flüchtlinge an Bord genommen und transportiert werden, sondern allein durch medizinische und „humanitäre“ Hilfe der Flüchtlinge auf ihren meistens seeuntüchtigen Booten. Die „NGO“ unter dem Namen Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) ist bislang nicht öffentlich in Erscheinung getreten. Es ist zu befürchten, dass es sich nicht um eine Rettungs-, sondern um eine Push-Back-Initiative der EU und der USA handelt, angesichts zunehmender Flüchtlingsboote in diesen Sommermonaten im Mittelmeer. Ein Filmteam soll die Mission öffentlichkeitswirksam in Szene setzen. – In den letzten Monaten hat die italienische Regierung gefordert, dass die italienisch-militärische Mare-Nostrum-Operation durch Frontex abgelöst wird. Aber die kriminellen Praktiken von Frontex stehen in öffentlicher Kritik. Die Festung Europa bekommt im Kanal von Sizilien gewissermaßen ein Loch – und gerät in diesem Sommer in die Krise.
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Sunday, 29 June 2014, 08:30
A humanitarian organisation that will deploy a 40-metre ship and aerial drones to give assistance to migrants crossing the Mediterranean over the summer months is headed by former AFM commander, Brigadier Ret’d Martin Xuereb.The Migrant Offshore Aid Station MOAS is a non-profit humanitarian project set up by US entrepreneur and humanitarian Christopher Catrambone, the CEO of the Malta based Tangiers Group – a company offering medical and emergency aid, as well as insurance and intelligence services in war-torn and other high risk countries.In late 2013, he founded MOAS after the tragedies of 3 and 11 October near the Italian island of Lampedusa, in which more than 500 people are thought to have drowned. The Malta Independent had closely reported the October 2013 events and pointed out that there were serious discrepancies in the after-action reports presented by the Maltese and Italian authorities.MOAS is, essentially, a team of volunteers who will be setting sail on the newly acquired 40-metre Phoenix 1 expedition ship. They will cruise up and down known migrant sea lanes and offer help – in the form of medical assistance, food and water and lifejackets – to passing migrant boats. The Phoenix will not be transporting migrants to Malta but will be contacting the authorities alerting them of the migrant vessels. Brigadier Xuereb is the leader of the project while Mario Cauchi, another AFM man with over 20 years maritime and Search and Rescue experience, is First Officer. Dr Sapna Sharma is the Medical Coordinator and Aebhric O’Kelly is Chief Paramedic. Film maker Cat Mills will also be accompanying the crew and filming a documentary about the project.The MOAS mission will take place between July and October 2014 and will be coordinated from Malta. The vessel will also make use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles UAVs with thermal and night-time imaging to look out for migrant vessels in distress.Once a migrant vessel is spotted, the team will radio its location to the nearest authorities and MOAS crew members, including an Arabic speaking doctor, will use smaller boats to give assistance to the migrants. The project will rely on donations.
via Former AFM chief to head Migrant Offshore Aid Station – The Malta Independent.
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Dec 21
President of Malta is introduced to our new Migrant Offshore Aid Station
On 12 December I had the honour of meeting the President of Malta to hand over a donation to the Maltese charity event, L-istrina 2013. The event supports the work of charities across Malta, including those who help people with serious illness get the very best treatment available in countries including Britain and Israel.
At the meeting, we discussed my plans to launch the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS), a specialist floating aid station which will alleviate the pain and suffering endured by migrants undertaking the perilous journey from North Africa. The President called the initiative a ‘very noble effort’.
I believe we can no longer ignore the issue of migrants travelling through this deadly corridor; thousands of innocent men, women and children displaced by civil and international conflicts, natural disasters, poverty, discrimination, ethnic or sectarian prejudices or by danger to their safety and life; their fate entrusted to heartless smugglers, their only hope a rickety boat.
What we saw off the coast of Lampedusa in October 2013 must never be repeated. Between July and October of 2014, a MOAS crew will sail its 39-metre (130-ft) expedition vessel – Phoenix I – to major migrant shipping lanes and set anchor. From this fixed point the crew will monitor the area using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs or drones) and use human lookouts to spot migrant vessels in distress. Deployed around the clock, the UAVs can cover greater distances with more accuracy thanks to sonar, thermal and night-imaging.
Once a migrant vessel is spotted, its location will immediately be reported to the competent authorities whilst MOAS crew members, including multilingual staff and medical staff, will assess the needs of the migrants via Fast Rigid-hulled Inflatable Boats (RIB). RIBs will be stocked with water, non-perishable food, life jackets, blankets and medical supplies for speedy distribution in order to stabilise the situation.
If someone urgently needs medical care, that person will be treated by a MOAS medical care provider. Palliative care will be administered to whoever needs it. If a ship is in danger of sinking, migrants will be assisted as we await the arrival of competent authorities, who will take care of the situation.
Our goal is to reduce human suffering in any legal way possible. In keeping with maritime law, MOAS will not transport or assist in transporting migrants, but we will use all our resources to locate and treat suffering humans desperate for a better life.
For further information on MOAS visit: www.moas.eu
via Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) Malta.
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Werbe-Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry_p2A6HqP0
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Migrant_Offshore_Aid_Station_%28MOAS%29
Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS)
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This page is a new unreviewed article. This template should be removed once the page has been reviewed by someone other than its creator; if necessary the page should be appropriately tagged for cleanup. (June 2014) |
‘Migrant Offshore Aid Station‘ (MOAS) is a humanitarian, non-profit project aimed at assisting vessels in distress in the central Mediterranean. The project runs between July and October 2014, when the MOAS team will sail a 43-metre (136-ft) expedition vessel, the Phoenix I, to major migrant shipping lanes. The aid station undertakes to assist Rescue Coordination Centres (RCC) mitigate loss of life at sea by providing food, water, lifejackets and emergency medical care to migrant vessels in distress.[1]
The operation is being coordinated from the island of Malta, which lies in the central Mediterranean Sea and is close to the Italian islands of Sicily and Lampedusa. Italy and Malta are at the centre of a migratory route connecting North Africa to Europe. Over the past years, both countries have coordinated and have been directly involved in hundreds of cases saving thousands of lives at sea.[2][3]
Equipped with the latest search and rescue facilities, Phoenix I will embark on a number of offshore missions in the summer with the aim of spotting and standing by migrant vessels until help is at hand. Trained personnel will assess the needs of the migrants and supply water, food, life jackets, blankets and medical supplies until help from the coast guard becomes available.[4]
MOAS was set up after the tragedies of 2013 when two boatloads of migrants, one from Eritrea and Somalia and one carrying Syrian refugees, perished en route from North Africa to Europe.[5] Each year, thousands of migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, risk their lives when attempting this perilous crossing on rickety boats. The ultimate aim of MOAS is to eliminate loss of life at sea to the greatest extent possible. MOAS will not act a ferry across the Mediterranean, but will use all its resources to assist the respective Rescue Coordination Centres in locating and treating suffering human beings, and to save lives where required.
Christopher and Regina Catrambone founded the project in 2013 with the aim of alleviating the needless suffering of thousands of people seeking a safe and stable new home.
The MOAS group is made up of humanitarians including security professionals, medical staff and experienced maritime operators. They are passionate about the plight of migrants and the dangers they face as they try to find a life free of violence.[6]
The project director is Brig Gen (Ret’d) Martin Xuereb, Malta’s ex Chief of Defence.
The MOAS expedition vessel, named ‚Phoenix I‘, is a 43-metre (136-ft) steel boat built in 1973. It has a gross tonnage of 483t. Track the progress of the vessel here.
Left to die boat, 2011:
http://www.leparisien.fr/faits-divers/morts-de-migrants-en-2011
Carole Sterlé
La cour d’appel de Paris estime qu’il faut ouvrir une enquête sur d’éventuelles responsabilités de l’armée française, après le décès de migrants, au large de la Lybie en 2011.
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While the EU Council will discuss today the strategic orientations of the EU’s migration policy, we publish an article on the lack of follow up on the left-to-die boat case, the structural causes of the deaths of migrants at sea and the fundamental policy reorientation necessary to put an end to them. We also make available a synthetic video animation concerning the left-to-die boat.
Quelle: openDemocracy | https://vimeo.com
Charles Heller and Lorenzo Pezzani
Researchers participating in the reconstruction of the 2011 “Left-to-die boat” case in which 63 migrants lost their life under NATO’s eyes, summarize three years of inconclusive demands for disclosure and justice. As the European Council addresses the EU’s long-term migration policy, they say deaths of migrants at sea will continue short of ending the EU’s policy of closure towards non-European migrants.
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We have received the following signalization of distress from Father Mussie Zerai (equally sent to the Italian Coast Guard), concerning 250 people located just outside the Maltese SAR zone, within the (undeclared) Libyan SAR. Father Zerai received a second distress call from another boat, but was not able to determine its location.
„Richiesta di aiuto che ci è giunta dal mediterraneo da un natante con a bordo circa 250 persone di cui 70 donne e circa 15 bambini, partiti circa 12 ore fa da Tripoli, la loro posizione N° 33 Deg 54.928 E° 014 Deg 37.904 il telefono +8821621010282. Una seconda segnalazione che ci è stata fatta, che corrisponde al +8821666642642, ma non abbiamo altro informazione su questo ultimo numero turaia. “
via 250 people in distress outside the Maltese SAR zone | Watch the Med
Mare Nostrum
http://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2014/06/08
Non c’è sosta nei viaggi della speranza dalle coste del Nord Africa verso la Sicilia: in due giorni oltre 2mila migranti soccorsi in mare e portati nei porti siciliani
Immigrazione, ancora sbarchi in Sicilia: a Pozzallo nave con tre morti a bordo
Sbarchi, morti e disperazione. Non c’è sosta nei viaggi della speranza dalle coste del Nord Africa verso la Sicilia. A Pozzallo, dove la notte scorsa sono arrivate 420 persone, altre 100 sono attese in giornata. Con loro ci sono anche alcuni compagni di viaggio deceduti. Secondo quanto si è appreso i morti sarebbero tre. Già in preallarme la Protezione Civile e gli uffici comunali per affrontare la nuova emergenza. Ieri sera invece erano arrivati nello stesso porto del ragusano altre due navi mercantili, una con a bordo 322 e un’altra con 100 persone. I nuovi arrivati sono afghani, siriani, algerini, libici, somali e sudanesi.
http://website-pace.net/documents/
La Commission des migrations de l’APCE dénonce de ‘graves lacunes’ du cadre juridique en matière de echerche et sauvetage en Méditerranée
Strasbourg, 03.06.2014 – « D’importants efforts ont été consentis par les Etats membres, et l’Italie en particulier, pour sauver davantage de vies en mer, mais il subsiste des défaillances sur le plan de la coopération, de la définition et de la reconnaissance des responsabilités ainsi que des enseignements tirés des derniers événements tragiques », a souligné TinekeStrik (Pays-Bas, SOC) dans son deuxième rapport dédié au ‘bateau cercueil’ qui sera débattu par l’Assemblée parlementaire du Conseil de l’Europe (APCE) lors de sa prochaine session plénière à Strasbourg (23-27 juin 2014).
Thousands of migrants in the Mediterranean Sea are rescued following reports of sinking vessels carrying asylum seekers coming from Africa. 282 people were picked up from six small vessels by US navy ships near Malta.
Thousands more from three separate boats were rescued earlier in the day by Italian coastguard vessels off the coast of Lampedusa. On Friday, the Italian navy picked up another 2500 asylum-seekers from 17 boats. Most of the migrants and asylum seekers to Europe come from Eritrea or Syria. Some also come from other African countries headed for other destinations. Sixty migrants from Ethiopia and Somalia drowned just days ago off the coast of Yemen. Most migrants are packed into unseaworthy boats that sometimes take weeks to make the dangerous voyages.
via US navy saves 282 migrants near Malta after distress reports News PressTV presstv
