Three held over migrant's drowning

Three Maltese men are helping the police in their investigations into the drowning of an illegal immigrant on Friday night.

The immigrant allegedly formed part of a group of 14, nine of whom are still missing after their boat capsized off L-Ahrax Point, to the north of the island.

Police sources said the suspects who were being questioned had no connection with those who usually ferry immigrants. The suspects had allegedly sold a 14-foot boat and two 9.5 hp outboard engines to the immigrants.

The boat is now in the hands of the police after an Armed Forces of Malta patrol craft located it submerged about three nautical miles north east of L-Ahrax Point on Saturday morning.

Three immigrants who swam ashore and another who was rescued by the army on Friday night were assisting the police in their investigations.

On Saturday morning the army recovered a corpse during a search for the missing migrants.

The search, which continued yesterday, yielded no further results.

The sources said nothing could be excluded at this stage and the possibility that other migrants who were on the boat could have swam ashore and were still on the run could not be ruled out.

"It's a tragedy because we know that one person has died. What is sure is that the immigrants bought their own death, for how can one make it even to Gozo on a 14-foot boat carrying 14 men and a quantity of jerry cans of petrol, powered by two small outboard engines," the sources asked.

The police were also holding a Sudanese man but his case was related to an escape attempt by illegal migrants that took place a few weeks ago. The ones who survived had been on the run for several months, the sources pointed out.

The tragedy began to unfold on Friday night, when the army operations centre was alerted about people in distress off the northern coast of Malta, in the vicinity of Armier Bay.

A search and rescue boat, Melita 2, an Alouette helicopter and land patrols were immediately dispatched to the area to mount a search and rescue operation.

Three male foreigners swam ashore to Ramla Bay and a fourth was rescued and taken ashore by the rescue boat.

The men told the police they were illegal immigrants who had escaped from the Hal-Far and Safi detention centres. They said there were 14 people on the boat.

Police officers from the immigration section were yesterday questioning the three Maltese men and several foreigners in connection with the escape from the detention centres and the attempt to escape from Malta.

Arraignments are expected to take place, probably tomorrow.