Malta’s armed forces rescue 180 migrants off Malta’s coast
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The Armed Forces of Malta have successfully rescued 180 migrants off the coast of Malta.
The rescue operations carried out during the night involved two separate vessels.
MaltaToday reports that the Patrol Vessel P61 rescued 28 migrants from a dinghy 71 Nautical Miles South-West of Malta.
152 migrants from a wooden boat South-South-East of Malta were also rescued by the same vessel.
The patrol vessel is expected to come ashore and embark the migrants at Hay Wharf later on in the afternoon.
Earlier the NGOs Sea-Watch and Sea-Eye have called on Malta to provide their vessels, which are carrying a combined total of 49 rescued migrants, with a port of safety before re-distributing the migrants across the European Union.
The Malta Independent reports that the appeal was made by both NGOs as bad weather approaches their vessels, posing a risk to the health and safety of both the vessels and the people onboard.
They said that disembarkation in Malta “upon an agreement to redistribute people within a European solution” was the “most logical option”. They noted that Malta has already allowed landings of people rescued at sea before as long as other European states agree to the relocation of the people to other countries.
