"E' stata una motovedetta a fornirci il carburante e a intimarci di proseguire per Lampedusa. Ci hanno dato anche cinque salvagente; uno di loro ha acceso il motore, perché non avevamo la forza per farlo, e ci ha indicato la rotta. Poi si sono allontanati senza aiutarci, malgrado le nostre condizioni".
If the claims made by an Eritrean survivor of the latest tragedy regarding the alleged failure of the Maltese army to rescue the 5 survivors are verified, heads should roll in Malta.
The AFM claims that the five migrants were in apparent good health and clean shaven and that they refused to board the AFM patrol boat, not wanting to be rescued but to continue in a north westerly direction.
But UNHCR spokesman Laura Boldrini described the surviving migrants as extremely thin, too weak to walk and having severely bloodshot eyes.
Lawrence Gonzi has a moral obligation to order a public inquiry to determine the truth. Otherwise we are really living in a pariah state which turns its back on a tragedy is assuming the dimensions of a holocaust.
