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ITALIAN COAST GUARD officials are trying to rescue migrants lost at sea after their boat capsized off the coast of Lampedusa, a tiny Italian island close to North Africa. Many are feared dead.
The Coast Guard has saved 48 out of 200 believed to be aboard the boat, Pietro Carosia of the Italian Coast Guard told the Associated Press, adding that helicopters also have spotted corpses in the sea.
The ANSA news agency said about 20 bodies have been spotted but that the rescue operation was hampered by strong winds and rough waters.
The incident occurred overnight, but at this point it is not clear what happened to the boat, which had set sail from the Libyan coast.
However the BBC reports that the Italian Coast Guard responded to a distress call from the boat at about 4am local time (2am GMT) this morning. Three Coast Guard vessels, two planes and a helicopter are involved in the search.
The survivors were offered blankets, warm beverages and food as they arrived ashore this morning. Many are suffering from hypothermia and some were taken away by ambulance.
Thousands of people — mostly Tunisians — have arrived from North Africa on Italy’s shores after fleeing the turmoil that has engulfed the region.
Because of this, Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi held talks with Tunisian ministers about the situation on Monday, and also visited Lampedusa where he pledged to tackle the influx of migrants.
On Tuesday, Tunisia agreed to the repatriation of new arrivals and Rome supplying equipment and other assistance to crack down on smuggling rings.
Italy also agreed to issue six-month residency papers to 20,000 illegal immigrants.
Many migrants have been moved from Lampedusa to the mainland because the number of migrants on the island outnumbered locals and conditions were creating a health risk.
- additional reporting by AP
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So why does Knock still charge passengers €12?
Airports are allowed charge a levy of their own, usually in order to fund expansion or renovation.
Holy water in the toilets?
A Development Fee of €10 is charged to all departing passengers from Ireland West Airport Knock aged 12 years and over. This is a service charge which the Airport charges for the use of its facilities and as a contribution toward infrastructure developments amount other services, usually It is included in the “Taxes and Charges” http://www.irelandwestairport.com/airportguide/airportdevelopmentfee.aspx
Perhaps they should be prohibited from charging a levy of their own. A level playing field in light of this ruling would benefit everyone.
In fairness, €12 is a bargain to get out of knock.
I’d pay €100 to get out of the kip
To fund the once-off Aer Lingus direct flight of Pilgrims from New York this summer? That flight can’t be cheap for anybody concerned!
For the holyness , sure dont u no the water in knock
Cured fr.jack himself
Good god…i hope its not becAuse off the holy water
It’s really not like our government to have 1 Fook up after another…
It was actually FF who messed up and FG changed to a flat rate before scrapping it.
Not to mention the European Commission’s lazy ruling.
And how much did the FG government spend on fees before losing this case.
I mean, it’s not as though FG are doing anything different from FF, is it?
If Michael O’Leary got into politics, this would be a different country. He would sort out the lot of them up there trying to bleed the country dry
Yes and maybe we would be working for his low pay way of life too.
On the contrary, it’s people who think that running a country is like running a business that have damaged this country the most in recent years.
So I assume aer lingus and Ryanair will refund me the tax I paid to them that they never passed on.. I also assume I will have to go through the small claims court to get the money back as I have travel 39 + times … ching ching
Ryanair comparable *family friendly*flights cost double that of June 2013 prices when the tax was included to flights . ryanair are ripping off ppl and now have saved 12 million from tax payers . Michael o Leary propaganda using his family to make money family friendly my a** . MoL only believes in profit. He should donate that money to #jakeslegacy and make a difference
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