SPANISH FISHERMEN SAVE IMMIGRANTS FROM CERTAIN DEATH

The Spanish sea rescue ship Clara Campoamar docked in Tarragona last Saturday afternoon with 26 African immigrants on board who had been saved from certain death at sea by the Spanish fishing boat Montfalcó. The immigrants' flimsy cayuco was adrift between the Libyan coast and Malta when it was spotted by the captain of the Montfalcó on May 26th, after having been refused permission to land at Malta. The immigrants, all men from the Ivory Coast, were attempting to make it to Italy, but their cayuco started taking in water near Malta. Montfalcó's captain, Rubén Vazquez Rey, obeying the law of the sea, went to their rescue. Speaking over the ship's radio after the rescue, Sr Vazquez said he had thought they were pirates at first until he saw how they were dressed. "They were obviously immigrants in distress and would have died if we hadn't passed so close to them," he said. However, the Montfalcó was built to hold a crew of three and their provisions comfortably and Sr Vazquez appealed for help to get the men safely ashore. The Spanish government sent the Clara Campamar to meet the Montfalcó to the south of Sicily to pick up the immigrants, who were packed "like sardines" in every available space on the smaller boat. The two vessels met up on Friday. The rescued men have been transferred to different Red Cross centres while the government decides to give them political asylum or not. It was not the first time a Spanish boat has rescued immigrants in danger of drowning in the vicinity of Malta, which claims it is too small to allow "illegals" to step foot on the island. There was a similar incident last year which led to a heated diplomatic exchange between Malta and Spain. Malta claimed on both occasions that the boats in distress were not in Maltese waters. As a result of last year's incident the European Commission and the European External Borders Agency started a joint study to determine the responsibilities of the countries involved in incidents of immigrants lost at sea. The study, which is nearly completed, aims to link maritime and humanitarian laws so that "everyone is clear about their responsibilities", said Friso Roscam, the EC's spokesman for Justice, Liberty and Security.