Let us be clear from the start. The authorities in Malta have sometimes got it wrong in dealing with asylum seekers, both in terms of military practice and in terms of treatment of people.

But by and large, with a few hiccups along the way, we seem to have refined the art of Search and Rescue, ship to ship transfers and, generally, saving people on the high seas.

While Lampedusa has received thousands of asylum seekers, Malta has received about 1,000. The last batch were saved from a rickety boat that was very close to floundering some 50 nautical miles off Lampedusa.

To put it into context, just days earlier, Italy’s Roberto Maroni blamed the AFM for the tragedy which took place at high seas in which about 100 people are feared drowned. Yet, this seems highly improbable, and is most likely a fabrication. People will ask why, and it becomes immediately clear. First of all, the AFM – a professional if limited force – has already said that the vessel had capsized before it even got there.

Sources within the AFM have told this newspaper that they know exactly why the tragedy took place. The first thing that the AFM does in such instances is to calm the occupants of the boat and tell them to sit still. From bitter experience, the AFM knows what happens when people rush to one side of an overladen boat. It capsizes. The second thing that the AFM does is provide all people with a lifejacket before any transfers begin. This is standard practice for the AFM and its members have learned from years of going out into gale force winds to rescue people on boats.

This was not the case in the Lampedusa tragedy; people were not given life jackets and they did rush to one side of the boat. On Thursday, the AFM was called out once more to deal with a vessel in Maltese SAR. While Malta is obliged to help if the people on board require it, the people are still to be taken to the closest safe port of call. The P-61 steamed to the edge of Italy’s territorial waters near Lampedusa – some 50 miles away. The Italians refused, saying that Lampedusa was inundated with people. What’s more is that the AFM crew asked for material assistance. Some three hours later (by which time the AFM had already ably rescued the boat people), the Rome centre told the AFM that there was a vessel some 45 minutes away.

To then refuse entry and put these people through a gruelling eight-hour journey in high seas is bad form, poor behaviour and a breach of human rights. When Malta was faced with boatloads of people that were closest to Malta, we took them in and gave them shelter.

One cannot understand the reasoning of the Italian Interior Minister Maroni and the Coast Guard and Navy. Is it simply a case of the giant neighbour having been humbled by the actions of a tiny professional force from a speck in the sea to its south? It certainly seems likely. One must never forget that the government of Italy dealt directly with Gaddafi, who quite clearly was involved in the organisation of illegal trips from Libya, on the issue of asylum seekers. Every time Gaddafi wanted a bit more from Europe, he would turn on the tap and allow numbers of migrants through. This gave him political leverage. So again, we must ask why has Italy decided to act in this way. This was a humanitarian mission. One just hopes that Maroni can see the photographs of women and children that were rescued, by the AFM.