Italy blocks ferry fleeing Libya

Josephine MCKENNA France24 03/15/2011 20:52

Italy on Tuesday blocked a ferry loaded with more than 1,800 Africans fleeing Libya from docking in Sicily amid immigration fears as the EU urged the authorities to check whether refugees could be on board.

"They have asked to come into port to refuel. We have notified them of an entry ban ordered by the (interior) ministry," Antonio Giummo, an Italian navy official at the port of Augusta in eastern Sicily, told AFP.

"The ship is currently off our coastline waiting in international waters," he said.

A European Commission spokesman, Marcin Grabiec, told reporters: "We are following the situation closely and we remind European Union member states to verify with great attention if refugees could be on board the ferry."

Italian media reported that the Moroccan-owned ferry, the Mistral Express, had come from Tripoli and was carrying 1,715 Moroccan nationals, 39 Libyans and 82 others from Algeria, Egypt, Mali, Mauritania, Syria, Sudan and Tunisia.

The reports said the interior ministry would not let the ship dock until it had verified exactly who was on board, adding that the ferry's captain had made a request to refuel in Sicily before travelling on to Morocco.

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