Italian navy tracking immigrants off Balearics

Two Italian navy ships yesterday set sail for the Balearics to shadow the boat load of 600 immigrants currently in Balearic waters to the south of Majorca. The immigrants are believed to be Kurds, 1.000 Kurdish immigrants were intercepted in Sicilian waters last Monday and the Italian authorities have called a state of emergency fearing that hundreds more are heading their way. The two Italian navy ships have been given full clearance by the Spanish authorities to operate in the Western Mediterranean and the Spanish navy will be working in close co-operation with the Italians as they set up a new Mediterranean immigrant control programme. The Italian navy will be tracking the ship off the Balearics and another near Southern Spain by satellite and plan to prevent the ships, of which there are four in total in the Mediterranean, docking in any of the European ports without being intercepted and boarded.