Fate of dispersed migrants unclear

The fate of some 50 migrants in two boats remained unclear yesterday evening, hours after Libya and an Iranian cargo ship failed to go to their aid, despite requests from the Armed Forces of Malta's Rescue Co-ordination Centre (RCC Malta), the AFM said. On Thursday afternoon, the migrants sent a distress call through a relative in Malta via a satellite phone. The migrants were about 47 miles off the Libyan coast, well within the Libyan search and rescue region.

The AFM immediately contacted the Libyan and Italian RCCs. On Friday, after contact with the migrants had been lost for some time, one boat managed to make contact with the relative again, insisting they needed help while giving their latest position.

The AFMs were on Friday evening still waiting for information from Libya of developments resulting from the search it promised to carry out.

The Libyan RCC informed the AFM at 6 p.m. that an aircraft had been sent to the migrants' boats' area, and promised to advise within an hour of the search's outcome.  

Since, by 8.40 p.m., there was no news from the Libyan RCC, the AFM's Operations' Centre faxed a request for a report. Phone calls up to 10.10 p.m. to the Libyan RCC and the migrants' satellite phones went unanswered. At 11.25 p.m., the foreigner in Malta, who first notified the AFM on the migrants, contacted RCC Malta again, saying one of the boats successfully returned to Libya, while the other was still missing.

RCC Libya was updated by fax at 00.18 a.m. The Libyan RCC was eventually contacted by phone and the AFM informed that the search aircraft was sent to the area but was forced to return due to the bad weather.

The aircraft was scheduled to perform the same attempted search yesterday morning, according to a fax sent to RCC Malta. RCC Malta's attempts to contact the sole remaining missing boat failed between 3 and 7.30 a.m. yesterday morning.  

At 8.45 a.m., RCC Libya did not confirm the reported boat's return to its shores, and confirmed the promised search aircraft had been sent. By 1.16 p.m., with no contact yet established by satellite phone with the missing boat, RCC Libya reported its aircraft had spotted nothing in the search area. At the same time, RCC Malta requested confirmation of the information by fax and details of RCC Libya's plans. By 1.48 p.m. no information was received.

In a separate development, MRCC Rome notified RCC Malta that a foreigner in Italy advised them that a compatriot had reported the departure at 11 a.m. of a boat with an estimated 300 persons onboard, from the Libyan port of Zuwarah, heading north.  

The AFM's Protector-class OPV P-52 was already some 15 nautical miles in the south of Malta at 11.57 a.m., and reported nothing in sight. Later yesterday afternoon, an AFM Air Wing Islander aircraft conducted a search south of Malta, and between 1.43 and 4.20 p.m. it reported that nothing had been spotted.