BOAT CARRYING 122 KURDISH IMMIGRANTS INTERCEPTED

BOAT CARRYING 122 KURDISH IMMIGRANTS INTERCEPTED

(ANSA) - Riace, November 18 - A boat carrying 122 Kurdish immigrants was intercepted on Wednesday by coastal authorities off the southwestern coast of Italy.

Officials said the boat was driven aground after trying to escape a coast guard patrol and that a number of the immigrants aboard leapt into the water in an attempt to escape.

All of the passengers, however, were recovered and brought safely to shore, including ten small children and a pair of two-month-old babies.

Two pregnant women were taken to hospital, but are said to be in good condition.

Immigration authorities said all of the immigrants were Kurds of Iraqi, Afghan, Turkish and Iranian nationality who left Turkey last Friday.

They have been taken to holding centers near the Calabrian town of Riace to have their asylum requests examined.

Officials said they were still searching for the traffickers responsible for the ship, who they suspect of trying to pass themselves off as passengers.

According to the interior ministry, illegal immigrants pay around 2,000 euros each to human traffickers who ferry them across the Mediterranean.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that around 2,000 die every year while trying to make the crossing.

The Italian government claims that immigrant arrivals have decreased by 90% since the adoption of its push-back immigration policy, which allows coastal authorities to forcibly escort migrants intercepted in international waters back to Libya.

Though the policy has come under fire from human rights groups, the Catholic Church and the United Nations, Interior Minister Roberto Maroni has defended it as an effective deterrent to human trafficking.