Malta stood firm in the recent Spanish trawler saga as this was a clear case where the immigrants were rescued in an area that fell outside Malta’s search and rescue zone, Parliamentary Secretary Tony Abela said yesterday.

Speaking on Radio 101, Dr Abela said that this was the first real case of burden-sharing with the immigrants being sent to various countries across Europe. He said that although there was a misunderstanding with some members of the press for access at Haywharf, the situation was delicate at one point but cooperation with the press was a priority of the government.

Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil said that there is no current EU policy on irregular immigration and the union now has to move from appreciation of the problem to concrete measures for help. He said that Malta had done outstanding work as a small country to save thousands of immigrants from death and this should be recognised.

Dr Abela revealed that in the past five years around 6,000 immigrants arrived in Malta with over 70 per cent of these being repatriated. He said that 1,300 immigrants had arrived this year alone with the situation now reaching breaking point as regards accommodation.

Dr Abela also revealed that the United States government is shortly to provide the Maltese government with a state-of-the-art helicopter to be used for search and rescue operations. He had words of praise for AFM and police personnel who were constantly working miracles with their limited resources

The parliamentary secretary said that the refugees commissioner had dealt with 638 cases dealing with 683 persons in a year which was quite an impressive number.