|
Talking Point
|
Feedback
|
Text Only
|
Help
|
Site Map
|
![image: [ The refugees were taken ashore after being at sea for about 10 days ]](/olmedia/images/_44013_kurdsmain.jpg)
The refugees - mainly Kurds - said the captain and crew abandoned ship in a lifeboat after the vessel was spotted by Italian aircraft.
In addition to Kurds, the ship was carrying people from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Algeria.
![[ image: width=150]](/olmedia/images/_44013_kurds5.jpg)
Forty-eight people were initially brought ashore from the ship, Cometa, which was towed into safer waters and is now lying at anchor 400m offshore.
Women and children, including a new-born baby were taken to a church shelter at Melendugno, about 30 km (20 miles) from Otranto.
About 100 men were left on board to wait for a tug boat to tow the Cometa to shore.
The refugees said they had been at sea for eight to 10 days and that all their possessions and food had been stolen from them during a stopover in Albania.
The incident comes just a day after President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro said in his New Year's Eve speech that Italy's doors were "wide open" to people "living with persecution."
Most of the Kurdish immigrants are fleeing southeastern Turkey, where the government's 13-year war with Kurdish guerrillas has ravaged the economy, emptied scores of villages and killed nearly 37,000 people.
![[ image: width=150]](/olmedia/images/_44013_kurds2.jpg)
The Cometa boatload of illegal immigrants added to the thousands that have landed there this year, especially over the last two months.
The largest group - of 831 immigrants including 644 Kurds from Turkey and Iraq - arrived on Saturday in the vessel Ararat.
Italy's open southern coast and relatively lax immigration laws have earned it a reputation as an accessible gateway into Europe for Kurds and others.
Italy received 5,500 illegal immigrants by boat in 1997 - excluding the dozens of small groups of refugees who used small boats to land on the Adriatic coast and on Sicily.
More than 3,000 of the total 5,500 immigrants either came from Turkey, or were passengers in Turkish boats.
Many others were Albanian immigrants fleeing financial and political crisis in their country who were sent back to Albania when the situation improved
Thousands more Kurdish refugees are waiting to sail for western European countries on tramp steamers, according to the Kurdish Liberation Front's European office.
500 Kurdish refugees arrive by boat off southern Italy
(01 Jan 98 | World)
Illegal immigrants run aground in Italy
(27 Dec 97 | Despatches)
Italy calls for Turkey to act against immigrant smuggling gangs
(27 Dec 97 | World)
Amnesty International Turkey Campaign
Kurdish Information Network
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
More Kurdish refugees escape Turkey by boat
McAliskey committed for trial in Germany
Mir's computer malfunctions again
(From Sci/Tech)
Former intelligence officer claims Britain spies on EU
New Year riots in France
Belgian Grand Prix held on the grid
(From Sport)
Britain feared loss of confidence in Hong Kong thirty years ago
Poland takes over the chair at OSCE
French and Russian Presidents propose annual tripartite summit with Germany
Moroccan fishing boat sinks with 16 on board
Turkish police arrests alleged Islamic militants
Another computer failure on Mir
Comic writer Frank Muir dies
London police blame truants for street crime
A new genetic mutation to help resist HIV
New Czech government sworn in
|
Talking Point
|
Feedback
|
Text Only
|
Help
|
Site Map
|