CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES, XVII LEGISLATURE, 149th MEETING, 10 JANUARY 2014.

On 10 January 2014, the Undersecretary of State for Defence, Mr. Gioacchino Alfano, reported before the Chamber of Deputies on the sinking of a fishing vessel that took place on 11 October 2013, 113 km away from Lampedusa and 218 from Malta. The sinking caused the death of hundreds of Syrian refugees, including many children. A member of the Parliament called into question the proper management of the rescue operations, namely as to the lack of coordination between the Italian and Maltese authorities, that resulted in a late intervention. He also contested the effectiveness of the rules provided for by the Hamburg Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue (SAR) in so far as they allow a SAR area to be put under the jurisdiction of an authority which is not necessarily the best placed to intervene, as in the case at issue, where the competent authority was the Maltese one. In response to the parliamentary question, Mr. Alfano said:

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