Amnesty International today questioned whether Malta and Italy acted swiftly to save migrants which had ended up drowning after their boat took in water off Lampedusa on 11 October last year. 270 migrants had perished as a result of the shipwreck.

In a detailed report issued today, Amnesty International said that the Libyan vessel shooting at the refugee and migrants' boat was definitely one of the causes of the shipwreck, but added that it is reasonable to question whether Italy and Malta acted promptly and with all available resources in a bid to save the occupants from drowning and whether a delay in going to their rescue was another cause of the tragedy.

"Both Italy and Malta had claimed that they acted in full compliance with their obligations under the 1979 SAR Convention. However, prima facie, at the very least the following possible breaches of SAR obligations emerge: the failure of the captain of the Libra to direct herself a full speed towards the boat requesting assistance, as required by the SOLAS Convention; the failure of the Italian authorities to order her to do so, as required by UNCLOS; and the failure of the Maltese authorities to provide assistance to the boat after officially having taken charge of the case, as required by SAR Convention, by ensuring coordination and cooperation with other states, namely Italy," an section of the report carrying a sub title 'Lack of accountability', read.

The report also includes documented excerpts of survivors of the tragedy.

One survivor by the name of Mohammed Kazkji, 22 from Syria and who is an electrical engineering student, is quoted saying that "I cannot look into the sea. I lost my friend Yahea, maybe I lost my soul and my mind in the sea; I hate the sea, I cannot look at it."

This report comes after this newsroom had published a series of articles after the tragedy, including that documentation that the Armed Forces of Malta said substantiates its sequence of events during the 11 October migrant tragedy off Lampedusa remained unpublished.

This newsroom had also reported how several documents, maps and eyewitness accounts convincingly suggested that the Maltese government took what was the riskiest of the six choices it had available on 11 October.