Tista’ taqra bil-
Malti.
Home affairs minister Byron Camilleri confirmed that Russian authorities informed Malta about the LNG tanker which suffered an explosion just outside Malta’s search-and-rescue area.
But as he addressed a ministerial statement on Wednesday, in what devolved into an acrimonious exchange between government and opposition MPs, Camilleri evaded questions related to EU sanctions on Russia, including whether the Arctic Metagaz was part of the “shadow fleet” used to evade these sanctions or whether it was itself subject to sanctions.
The Russian-flagged Arctic Metagaz suffered a blast early on Tuesday approximately 150 nautical miles southeast of Malta, just outside Malta’s search-and-rescue zone within Libya’s own. The vessel subsequently drifted into Malta’s SAR region, though the lifeboat its crew used to evacuate was ultimately spotted within the Libyan SAR.
Russia has blamed Ukraine for the incident, claiming that the blast was caused by a Ukrainian naval drone launched from Libya. Ukraine is yet to comment on the allegation. While Ukraine has used naval drones on such vessels since Russia launched a full-scale invasion in 2022, these strikes have nearly all taken place within the Black Sea.
The Arctic Metagaz had been within just 25 nautical miles off Malta on Monday in the Hurd’s Bank area, ship tracking websites showed: the ship subsequently switched off its tracking device.
As the blast took place within Libya’s SAR, Libyan authorities were ostensibly responsible for the coordination of any search and rescue operations, but in practice, Malta coordinated the operation in Libya’s stead.
Malta’s Rescue Coordination Centre directed a nearby vessel, the MT Respect, to assist the crew, but insisted that the crew – including two in need of medical assistance – be taken to Libya.
Government, opposition accuse each other of seeking to score political points
The ministerial statement, however, largely devolved into political arguments as the government and opposition accused each other of seeking to score political points over the incident.
Prime minister Robert Abela took aim at a social media post by opposition leader Alex Borg after the two men, Camilleri and shadow minister for home affairs Darren Carabott held a meeting over the incident: the post indicated that the incident took place within Malta’s SAR.
Abela accused Borg and the Nationalist Party of seeking to alarm the public as he repeatedly sought to distance Malta from the incident: he repeatedly emphasised that the incident took place at a location roughly three times as far away from Malta as Sicily.
On his part, Borg insisted that the public had the right to know and deserved peace of mind, maintaining that the government needed to be transparent and factual.
Carabott, meanwhile, accused the government of seeking to capitalise on the incident by pursuing the tactic of “rallying around the flag:” using a crisis to boost support of the government. He accused the government of seeking to alarm the public around the incident.
The PN MP’s arguments, however, were met with an indignant response from Camilleri, who accused his opposition counterpart of believing that the sun rose and set with him.
In spite of the acrimonious turn the discussion ended up taking, however, both sides insisted that they were willing to cooperate with one another and that none should capitalise on a crisis for political ends.
