Malta rescues 216 persons

A Maltese armed forces patrol boat picked up more than 200 people from two dinghies in the Mediterranean and was bringing them to Malta on Saturday, a spokesman said.

At least one pregnant woman and several children were believed to be among the 216 rescued persons. Their nationality was not known.

An AFM spokesman said a patrol boat had been deployed to a sinking dinghy south of Malta on Friday. After picking up the migrants, it was diverted to a second dinghy while on its way to Malta, picking up those migrants as well.

The AFM said that with good weather conditions prevailing, departures of migrants from Libya, Tunisia, and Algeria had increased in the past two days, resulting in 12 migrant boats arriving in Sicily, Sardinia, and Lampedusa.

The Libyan coast guard said on Friday it had rescued 290 migrants from inflatable rafts near the capital Tripoli.

In an official statement, the AFM said that around 12 migrant boats had disembarked on Sicily’s southern coast, Sardinia and Lampedusa over the past two days, as migrants hoping to cross to Europe took advantage of good weather.

The rescued men, women and children reached Malta at around 8.15am.

 

Via The Times of Malta/Reuters