More migrants feared dead

Fifty-nine illegal immigrants landed in Malta yesterday as more corpses of African migrants in search of a better life were recovered from the Mediterranean.

A boat believed to be carrying over 30 Africans overturned off the island of Lampedusa yesterday as rescuers were still trying to find victims of a shipwreck on Saturday when up to 50 migrants are believed to have perished.

The problem of illegal immigration in the Mediterranean is once again at the forefront as fine weather drives desperate Africans to take on their journey of hope, often on rickety boats.

Early yesterday morning, at about three, the police were informed that a boat with immigrants had landed at Mgarr, Gozo.

The police went to the scene and found 29 immigrants - 26 men and three women - at Triq Manoel de Vilhena. The foreigners were transferred to Malta for further investigations.

Last night another group of 30 immigrants - 26 men, three women and a child - landed at Ghar Lapsi.

Currently there are over 1,300 people in Malta's detention centres.

In yesterday's accident, an Italian coastguard official said about 10 immigrants were rescued by a fishing boat about 70 miles south of Lampedusa. The immigrants told the crew there had been more than 40 people on the boat. A navy plane crew reported they had spotted five bodies.

In the meantime, the search for about 40 missing Africans off Lampedusa since Saturday proved fruitless.

The Sicilian prosecutor's office said it was launching an investigation into whether an attempt by an Italian navy ship to rescue migrants from an overloaded craft may have caused it to overturn and sink on Saturday.

The boat, crammed with some 120 African migrants, sank off southern Italy, leaving 10 people dead and about 40 missing. Survivors said the boat capsized when the immigrants saw a navy vessel and many moved abruptly to one side.

Ships, planes and helicopters were yesterday still searching the waters around Lampedusa for survivors. About a dozen children are among the missing.

The Italian Home Affairs Ministry said 178 boats with 10,500 people on board arrived on Lampedusa between January and July this year.

The EU last week officially launched its first joint border patrol mission off the coast of the Spanish Canary Islands aimed at curbing the influx of illegal immigrants from Africa to European shores.

It will shortly be followed by the start of a similar mission off the coast of Malta. The Malta operation will stop a few metres off Libyan territorial waters as Tripoli has not yet responded to an EU invitation to include its waters in the surveillance operation.