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WOULD European coastguards refuse to rescue white people stranded at sea during a storm, activists asked today as their mayday calls on behalf of 43 refugees in such a situation went ignored.
The refugee distress hotline organisation Alarm Phone was contacted by around 43 people on board a wooden boat in the Mediterranean on Sunday night.
“[The] authorities are informed,” Alarm Phone tweeted late last night. “Over the next hours, there will be a storm with two-metre high waves – there can be no delay in rescuing them!”
Alarm Phone contacted the Rescue Coordination Centres (RCC) in Italy and Malta but no rescue was launched.
“...We [have] lost contact with the people in distress for about three hours,” Alarm Phone announced around 12.20am this morning. “During our last conversation it was very difficult to communicate due to strong winds and a bad connection.
“We don’t know what is happening to them. European coastguards refuse to provide any info... Again, we cannot reach a European ‘rescue’ coordination centre.
“We have tried to get through to RCC Malta but either they fail to pick up or immediately hang up. MRCC Rome says that we should continue to try. We shouldn't have to try again and again - it should just work.”
Earlier today the refugees’ boat reached Malta’s search and rescue (SAR) zone, meaning the country’s coastguard has a legal responsibility for organising and/or coordinating its rescue.
“The ~43 people in distress are facing a very dangerous storm!” Alarm Phone tweeted this afternoon.
“Stronger winds and higher waves are still moving south. These weather conditions could be lethal. Would European coastguards hesitate to organise a rescue operation if there were white people on board?
“The ~43 people in distress in Malta’s SAR are exposed to a storm and high waves, the wooden boat is drifting. Due to strong winds, communication with the people is very difficult. [Armed Forces Malta] don’t let them drown!”
The Tunisian coastguard recovered the bodies of eight women and three children on Sunday from a boat believed to be carrying around 30 people. So far seven people have been rescued. The search for more survivors continues.
