Empty boat prompts fears of more dead migrants

The discovery of a submerged boat after five dead people were fished out of the sea off St Paul's Bay on Sunday have raised fears that a group of illegal immigrants may have perished as they tried to reach European shores.

The boat, with its outboard motor ripped off, was found by the Armed Forces six nautical miles off Malta.

The authorities are trying to establish whether there is a link between the six-metre fibreglass boat and the five dead bodies believed to be those of would-be immigrants.

According to sources, the boat has the same dimensions as the ones used regularly to transport between 25 and 30 immigrants at a time.

The AFM were yesterday carrying out searches following reports of more corpses sighted by fisherman.

The dead immigrants, whose nationality and identity is unknown, were found within a short distance of each other. The corpses were taken to Hay Wharf and the duty magistrate ordered an autopsy to establish the cause of death.

Police said that an autopsy on three of the immigrants showed they had suffered from hypothermia and drowned.

In the meantime, the AFM was yesterday coordinating operations with the Italian authorities after a boat carrying migrants was spotted some 50 miles off Lampedusa heading north. The boat was not traced.

Another boat with 100 migrants on board was later intercepted by the Italian authorities.

The last known tragedy involving immigrants around Malta occurred last August when 26 perished after their boat hit rough seas south of the island. Two men clung to the capsized boat for 24 hours before being rescued.

It is thought that hundreds of immigrants drown as they make the perilous crossing from North Africa to Europe.

Italy and Malta will be holding a joint summit on Thursday to try and draw up a common strategy in the fight against human trafficking.

The meetings will follow last week's decision by the European Commission to create an emergency fund of €20 million to help countries hit by immigration problems.