30 migrants feared dead
Survivor airlifted to St Luke's
About 30 immigrants are feared dead after their boat capsized 75 miles south of Malta, according to the sole survivor of the tragedy.
Details about the incident are still sketchy as no victims have been recovered as yet.
However, the owner of a Maltese fishing trawler, Saviour Ellul informed the army's Rescue Coordination Centre at Luqa Barracks' operations room yesterday afternoon that his vessel's captain, Louis Zammit, had recovered a sole migrant who claimed to be the only remaining survivor of a boatload that had left from Libya.
He said his boat had capsized during the night on the high seas in the Mediterranean, the army said.
The survivor also claimed the boat had been three days out at sea and that he had been in the water for some five hours prior to being picked up by the Maltese trawler.
Sources said the survivor, found in a serious but stable condition, was certified to be suffering from exhaustion and hypothermia. He was given first aid by personnel on the trawler.
AFM senior RCC staff Capt. James Grech and Warrant-Officer Carmel Lia immediately started a medical evacuation operation concurrently with a search and rescue mission in case other survivors were located, the army said. An army rescue helicopter was dispatched to the trawler at 1.15 p.m. and a fixed-winged aircraft conducted two search patterns in the area an hour later.
Staff Sergeant Larry Spiteri said that after searching for three hours, covering an area of about 45 square miles, there was nothing to report. Conditions, he said, were disastrous with visibility of under 10 kilometres, wind blowing at force four to five, rain, and a cloud base of lower than 1,000 feet.
The search was carried out 90 nautical miles south.
Because of the distance there were also communication problems and the aircraft had to communicate with base by relaying information via the rescue helicopter.
The surviving migrant was winched onboard the rescue helicopter at 2.10 p.m. and was taken to St Luke's Hospital for medical treatment, the army said.
Assistant Police Commissioner Andrew Seychell, from the police Immigration Branch was notified, and further investigations are underway.
If the tragedy is confirmed, it would be the first known shipwreck around Malta involving illegal immigrants this year. No further information was available at the time of going to press.