Malta has refused to take in 154 would-be illegal immigrants shortly after Italy also denied them permission to land in Lampedusa, dpa quoted officials as saying today. The immigrants had been picked up by a Turkish cargo ship just over 40 nautical miles off Lampedusa. Malta is insisting that in terms of international conventions, the immigrants were to be brought to the nearest safe port, which in this case was Lampedusa. But Italian officials are insisting the immigrants should be brought to Malta, which is responsible for the search and rescue region. No details have been given about the condition of those rescued. In a similar case on March 16, Malta had refused entry to an Italian ship which had also rescued immigrants 40 miles off Lampedusa. They were later taken to Italy. Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni accused Malta on Friday of shirking its responsibilities on migration and of dumping the immigrants on Italy. Speaking during a conference in Rome, Maroni said that relations between Malta and Italy had taken a turn for the worse recently over this issue, adding that he has asked EU Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot to intervene and convince Malta to assume its responsibilities.
