Maltese and Italian vessels are searching for more than 20 migrants feared dead after a boat carrying them sunk 300 miles south east of Malta.
The operation started Friday after a merchant ship rescued two migrants who said a total of 30 had been on board.
The Italian Coast Guard rescued another seven migrants. The survivors, including two children, have been taken to Greece, the nearest landfall and within helicopter range.
The alert was raised yesterday afternoon by the cargo ship Pegasus which spotted and recovered two persons who were in the water. They reported they had been in a boat carrying 30 migrants which had sunk.
The ship informed Malta rescue coordination centre which immediately started coordinating a search involving several cargo ships, three Italian coast guard vessels, three Italian aircraft and one Maltese aircraft.
An Italian coastguard aircraft spotted a group of survivors in the water and dropped a life raft to assist them. Seven persons, including two children, were eventually picked up merchant ships in the area. They are conveying them to Greece, which has the nearest harbour. Some of them needed urgent medical assistance and were ferried to hospital by a Greek helicopter.
One of the corpses picked up by a cargo ship is being brought to Malta today.
The search will continue this morning.
A number of corpses were also found. One of the corpses is to be brought to Malta by a cargo ship later today.
The numbers of migrants fleeing conflicts and risking the perilous sea voyages from Libya to Europe has swelled this year. Some 110,000 people have been rescued since January, and the U.N. refugee agency says at least 1,889 others have died.
Saturday 13 September 2014
http://www.wbtw.com/story/26523089/9-migrants-rescued-others-feared-dead-off-malta
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20140913/local/afm-coordinates-search-after-migrants-boat-sinks-several-survivors-and-corpses-found.535444
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