The Maltese government yesterday denied “the false and completely incorrect allegations” about Malta, reported by certain wire news services/agencies over the last 40 hours, regarding the events surrounding the recovery of 21 bodies by French navy warship La motte piquet last Friday.

At no time did Malta refuse entry into port of the French navy warship with the bodies, a Department of Information statement said yesterday, giving the sequence of events that “demonstrates this and gives the true picture of what took place on 1 June.”

The press communiqué was “issued for sake of correctness, clarity and transparency on the matter, so as to avoid any further speculative and incorrect dissemination of news.”



Timeline sequence of events

At 2pm (Friday), the AFM’s Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC Malta) was informed by RCC La Garde in France that in position 34-08N 013-52E, 12 nautical miles inside Libya’s Search and Rescue Region (SRR), a French warship observed four bodies in the water. RCC Malta immediately informed its Headquarters (Armed Forces of Malta) Operations Staff.

At 2.40pm, the RCC La Garde’s Duty Officer informed RCC Malta that they had an error in the previously-reported position, and that the position where the bodies were observed was 34-30.8N 013-55.8E (10 nautical miles inside Malta SRR, that is 23 nautical miles away from the position reported 40 minutes earlier). He continued by adding that the warship had already collected seven bodies and there were others in the water. He also said that, once the warship finished picking them up, it would require permission to enter Grand Harbour, Valletta, Malta with the retrieved bodies. Again, HQ AFM Operations Staff were informed.

At 3.05pm, Lt Commander Muller of the French Navy phoned RCC Malta, asking to speak with a competent Maltese authority on the case; this call was transferred to HQ AFM’s seniormost staff officer in charge of operations.

At 4.10pm, RCC Malta was instructed by its headquarters’ seniormost operations officer to make a request to RCC La Garde for a report from the French Navy warship on the state of the recuperated bodies, and other relevant details (such as location of recovery, and whether wearing life-vests, etc.). The warship was also advised to continue its search for other bodies till sunset (according to usual practice in such cases), and await for RCC Malta’s confirmation to enter Grand Harbour, Valletta.

At around 5.09pm, the Permanent Secretary at the Foreign Affairs Ministry took a call from the French ambassador. The ambassador said that a French military vessel had recuperated a number of bodies and had requested to enter the Malta port to “unload” these bodies; he requested diplomatic clearance. The Permanent Secretary replied that she would seek necessary clearance and refer back.

The Permanent Secretary sought necessary clearance from the Office of the Prime Minister; this was given immediately at 5.26pm. The Commander AFM was informed of this.

At 5.59pm, Lt Commander Muller informed RCC Malta that 30 body bags were needed if the bodies were to be offloaded in Malta. HQ AFM’s operations staff was informed accordingly.

At 6pm, RCC Malta’s duty officer informed Lt Commander Muller that the confirmation to enter Malta had not yet been issued, and that Malta will inform them accordingly at sunset, when their search was terminated. Lt. Commander Muller confirmed 11 bodies on board and another seven were still being collected. He informed RCC Malta that, if the bodies were to be brought back to Malta, the La motte piquet’s captain suggested a ship-to-ship transfer in the port.

Close to 7pm, the French ambassador called the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs to say that he had sent a note verbale with the relevant details on the case, giving coordinates as to where the bodies had been recovered. These coordinates were given to the Permanent Secretary at the over the phone who, in turn, communicated these to the Commander AFM.

The Commander AFM remarked that the coordinates clearly indicated that the bodies had been recovered in Libyan SAR; this was in fact confirmed soon afterwards.

The Permanent Secretary was then instructed to inform the French ambassador that:

• International media reports were repeatedly stating that these bodies had been recovered in Libyan waters;

• The coordinates given by the French authorities in fact confirmed this; and

• In a first instance, the French authorities should inform the Libyan authorities of the recovery of these bodies and request them to accept them. The French ambassador was requested to refer back to the Malta authorities should the Libyan side give a negative response so that the former authorities could take stock of the situation and, if necessary, take further consideration. This communication was made at about 7.15pm.

At around 8.15pm, the Foreign Affairs Minister told the French ambassador that the Maltese authorities were prepared to accept the bodies. However, given that these were recovered from the Libyan SRR, the Libyan authorities were to be approached first to respect their SRR obligations.

At about 10.22pm, the French ambassador called the Permanent Secretary to say that the French vessel would be proceeding to Toulon with the bodies.

At 10.26pm, Commander AFM informed RCC Malta that the French warship which collected the bodies was proceeding to Toulon, France directly.