Italy Intercepts Iraqi Kurds Off Coast

Italy’s coast guard caught a boat carrying 202 Iraqi Kurds trying to come ashore Saturday, capping a heavy week of illegal landings that prompted prosecutors to accuse Italian fishermen of helping illegal migrants.

Several coast guard vessels accompanied the 60-foot white wooden boat into the port of Santa Maria di Leuca, about 45 miles south of Lecce, on the heel of boot-shaped Italy.

On board were 202 Iraqi Kurds, including one woman and her newborn, who were both taken to a hospital for a routine check, a port official said. The others were taken to a holding center and were expected to be sent home unless any qualified for political asylum, the official said. Italian news reports said the boat originated in Turkey.

The landing was the latest in an unusually busy spell of illegal arrivals, most of them in Sicily and its nearby islands. Last weekend, more than 450 migrants arrived on the tiny island of Lampedusa.

A Sicilian prosecutor put five members of a fishing crew under investigation after they said they responded to a distress call from a boat carrying 151 immigrants off Ragusa, in southern Sicily, Italian news reports said.

The prosecutor is investigating whether crew members aided and abetted illegal immigration, because they entered international waters, picked up the migrants and brought them to Sicily rather than nearby Malta. The fishermen say Maltese authorities didn’t respond to a request to let them dock.

The case has sparked concern that prosecution of the crew would dissuade other boaters from responding to vessels in distress.