CNN, AP, RB
Feb 18, 2001

SAINT-RAPHAEL, France -- French authorities are considering the fate of 900
Kurdish refugees found grounded in a decaying tanker in southern France.

Those with legal documents will be allowed to apply for political asylum, while those who
do not have proper documentation will probably face expulsion, French Interior Ministry
officials said.

Authorities are also trying to determine where the passengers boarded the East Sea
which ran aground on Saturday about 20 metres from Boulouris between the town of
Saint-Raphael and the Riviera resort city of Nice.

The ship -- carrying over 200 children -- had been at sea for at least seven days and
medical authorities described the conditions aboard as deplorable.

If the passengers boarded in Greece those not granted asylum could be sent back there
under European Union agreements, Interior Ministry officials said.

However, officials said the passengers may have boarded in Istanbul, Turkey.

The ship's crew are being hunted after escaping in a dinghy. The East Sea -- damaged by the
impact -- sank early on Sunday.

Police blames Mafia

French police said they believed criminal gangs in Turkey and Iraq were behind the
smuggling scheme -- with Italy as the ship's intended destination, the crew having got lost.

Daniel Chaze, deputy central director of the French Border Police, told The Associated
Press news agency that "an Iraqi-Turkish Mafia ring" was responsible for bringing the
Kurds to France.

He said: "We know the captain's name. Police are working with Interpol to find him and
the ship owner."

 Gangs specialising in people-smuggling recruited the Iraqi Kurds from their homes in
northern Iraq, Chaze said. Those who paid between $200 and $300 were brought to the
Turkish border.

A Turkish smuggling ring then loaded the refugees onto the Cambodian-registered freighter,
charging $2,000 each for the
week-long voyage.

Following the grounding the refugees spent the night at nearby military bases.

Eric Painsec, head of aid operations for the French Red Cross, said most of the people were
in satisfactory health, although many were suffering from fatigue after being at sea for a
week.

"Some of them are very weak because they have not eaten for several days," he said.

Former Interior Minister Charles Pasqua has called for the Kurds to be immediately
repatriated to "where they came from."

"If we accept them on our territory, we will open the floodgates," the conservative politician
said.

French President Jacques Chirac said he was "profoundly shocked" by the incident, while
Interior Minister Daniel Vaillant lashed out against what he called "these exploiters of
human misery."

The refugees were visited by Social Affairs Minister Elisabeth Guigou who said: "The legal
procedures will be respected and the situation examined case by case."

Guigou said the passengers left home two months ago. Three babies were born during the
voyage.

Every year, dozens of migrants drown off the coasts of Italy and Spain trying to cross from
the Balkans or northern Africa.
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The Kurdistan Observer
www.kurdistanobserver.com