Baby among another boatload of immigrants

Twenty-six illegal immigrants, including a baby, were yesterday brought to Malta aboard a patrol boat of the armed forces after their own boat ran out of fuel several days into their journey.

This was the second boatload of illegal immigrants to arrive in Malta since Sunday. The first group numbered 25. Yesterday's group claim to come from Somalia.

The immigrants - 20 men, five women and an eight-month-old girl - arrived at the Maritime Squadron's base at Hay Wharf at 1 p.m.

Captain Martin Cauchi Inglott, the squadron commander, said that an alarm was raised by the Italian Coastguard at about 5 p.m. on Wednesday but it was not possible to find the immigrants' 15-foot motor boat in the dark. However, the boat was later spotted by a fisherman who remained with it until the Maritime Squadron arrived on the spot, 25 nautical miles south-west of Delimara. The police said the immigrants' boat had run out of diesel and was abandoned.

They said some of the immigrants seemed to be suffering from heat exhaustion but nobody needed immediate medical treatment. The baby did not even let out a whimper when she was taken ashore by a member of the AFM.

The women were the first to be helped off the patrol boat. They were taken to the shade to wait for the police bus that was to take them to police headquarters, in Floriana. One AFM member rushed to find a chair for one of the women, probably the baby's mother, who looked very tired.

Another AFM member told the press that the illegal immigrants claimed to be from Somalia and that they had been at sea for several days.

Investigations are being led by the immigration police.