Capturing the moment

Migrants who had been stranded on two NGO rescue ships off the coast of Malta for several days disembark from the Maltese Armed Forces vessel P52, at the Armed Forces of Malta maritime base at Hay Wharf, in Floriana, Malta, 09 January 2019.

The 49 migrants were transferred from the two NGO vessels Sea-Watch 3 and Professor Albrecht Penck and brought to Malta before being redistributed to eight European Union countries.

The private rescue vessels had picked up 32 migrants on 22 December 2018, and further 17 migrants on 29 December 2019 respectively, but had been denied entry in European ports after refusing to hand over the migrants to the Libyan Coast Guard.

EPA-EFE/ DOMENIC AQUILINA