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202 Iraqi Kurds land in Italy seeking asylum©Associated PressAugust 25, 2002 ROME -- The coast guard caught a boat carrying 202 Iraqi Kurds arriving in southern Italy on Saturday -- the latest in a heavy week of illegal landings that prompted prosecutors to accuse Italian fishermen of helping migrants get ashore. Several coast guard vessels accompanied the 60-foot white wooden boat into the Santa Maria di Leuca port, located near Lecce, on the heel of boot-shaped Italy. On board were 202 Iraqi Kurds, including one woman and her newborn child, 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 passengers were in relatively good health and had been traveling for about three days. Italian news reports said the boat originated from Izmir, Turkey. The landing was the latest in an unusually busy spell of illegal arrivals, most of them landing in Sicily and its nearby islands. A Sicilian prosecutor put five members of a fishing crew under investigation after they said they responded Sunday to a distress call from a boat carrying 151 immigrants off Ragusa, in southeast Sicily, Italian news reports said. The prosecutor, Domenico Platania, was investigating whether crew of the Cicho had aided and abetted illegal immigration, because they entered international waters, picked up the migrants and brought them back to Sicily rather than the nearby Malta.
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