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Another ship of illegal migrants intercepted by Italian coast guard

A cargo ship carrying more than one thousand illegal immigrants from Lebanon has been intercepted by Italian authorities off the island of Sicily.

It's believed they were mainly Syrian Kurds heading for Germany.

Europe correspondent Geoff Hutchison reports.

Italian coast guard authorities say some of the asylum authorities threaten to throw their children into the sea if the ship, The Monika, was boarded. But late in the day it was towed by a frigate into the port of Catania. It set sail from Beirut last week and its human cargo included more than 500 women and children, one mother gave birth during the night and was flown to a Sicilian hospital. The arrival of illegal immigrants into Italy from the eastern Mediterranean is becoming an almost daily occurence. These latest asylum seekers will now be transferred to a reception centre in the south. Geoff Hutchison Brussels.

19/03/2002 14:16:10 | ABC Radio Australia News

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