Malta accused Italy today of breaching international law after Italian authorities turned back a Maltese patrol boat heading for the Italian islet of Lampedusa with 66 rescued migrants on board, according to dpa. The Maltese government said it hoped there would not be a repetition of Thursday's incident when Italian authorities refused to take the migrants who, the Maltese say, were stranded just 24 nautical miles from Lampedusa. The official protest was delivered to the Italian Foreign Ministry in Rome. Maltese officials said Italian authorities had initially indicated that they would be cooperating with the Maltese military after the migrants sent a rescue alert. When the Maltese patrol boat arrived just off Italian territorial waters, it was intercepted by two Italian vessels and told not to proceed further, the Maltese officials said. Malta said that in terms of international law, the migrants should have been taken to the nearest safe port, which was Lampedusa. The incident took place just a fortnight after over 140 immigrants were left stranded off Lampedusa for three days, after a vessel that rescued them was refused entry by both Italy and Malta.
