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Mediterranean countries blamed for drowning of Palestinians

September 30, 2014 at 12:38 pm

The families of the Palestinians from Gaza who were drowned in the Mediterranean are blaming Italy, Greece and Malta of behaving irreverently towards their sons, as they did not carry out even the most basic of procedures in cases of drowning, Quds Net new agency reported.

The news agency quoted a statement by Abu-Ahed Al-Masri, a spokesperson for the families of the drowned Palestinians, saying that: “In light of our credible information, the European countries on the Mediterranean basin, namely Italy, Greece and Malta, did not send any rescue mission to the place where the ship carrying our sons sank in order to search for them or find their corpses.”

According to Al-Masri, these countries said that they did not carry out any rescue or search missions because the costs of the six-day operation would be about 20 million euros, a price too high.

Al-Masri said that this “clear irreverence” of the families’ sons reiterates why it is necessary for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to do something.

“We ask him”, Al-Masri said, “to use his personal relationships with the UN, the Red Cross and the other international organisations to push the Mediterranean countries to send a search mission to the place where our sons were drowned”.

He also called for opening a criminal investigation and filing a complaint about the drowning incident in order to officially blame the parties responsible for this disaster.

Al-Masri reiterated that the families’ information and lobbying campaign will continue, promising that they will “knock on all doors in a bid to reveal the fate of their sons”.