Turkish ship "Havva Ana" flying the flag of the Marshall Islands, having rescued the night all the occupants of the small vessel, is heading towards Lampedusa where we will arrive around 18 hours.
SYRACUSE, April 11, 2013 - The weather conditions are clearly improving and resume with fast-paced landings of migrants in Sicilian waters. The Coast Guard and other law enforcement agencies are committed unabated. (In the video of the rescue).A boat, carrying 84 non-EU citizens (including 68 males and 16 women, of which 4 are pregnant), was rescued by a Coast Guard patrol boat off the coast of Syracuse. The migrants, allSomalis, have been conducted in Portobalo Capopassero, where I landed this morning a little after 6. The boat on which they were traveling was left adrift. Foreign nationals have been subjected to medical examinations, a pregnant women and a man with suspected ankle, were escorted to the hospital in Noto.Yesterday, the Coast Guard had rescued 200 migrants adrift. Were crammed on a small raft of just 10 meters 90 migrants rescued this night in the Strait of Sicily. Among them 20 women, one pregnant, presumably all of sub-Saharan origins. The request for help, via a satellite phone on board, arrived at 2130 yesterday at the operations room of the Coast Guard in Palermo, when the vessel was about 130 miles from Lampedusa.During the operations, coordinated by the operations room from the Maritime Directorate of Palermo in collaboration with the Libyan authorities, were hijacked on the spot 3 merchant sailing nearby. One of these, the Turkish ship "Havva Ana" flying the flag of the Marshall Islands, having rescued the night all the occupants of the small vessel, is heading towards Lampedusa where we will arrive around 18 hours. Inshore migrants will be transferred on patrol Corps and later transferred to the port of the island.In addition, yesterday morning another boat with 94 people was located 99 miles south of Lampedusa from 2 300 class patrol boats of the Coast Guard who, after having proceeded to transfer all the occupants are reaching the island of Sicily. Even the Maltese authorities are engaged in other rescue 86 migrants aboard a boat intercepted 32 miles south of Malta. The Coast Guard remains committed with vessels and aircraft in search of any other migrant boats willing to reach Italy.
