Video: Rough seas prevent transfer of migrants to shore

Bad weather has forced the AFM to stop attempts to disembark a group of 162 migrants at Anchor Bay.

The migrants were picked up by the tanker Overseas Primar in rough seas 59 miles off Malta yesterday afternoon. Since a patrol boat could not reach the position, the tanker was asked to come to Malta. It anchored overnight on Hurd's Bank but with the sea remaining very rough, it moved to the more sheltered Anchor Bay this afternoon.

Attempts to transfer the migrants to launches for landing in the bay were deemed unsafe however.

The group of migrants - the first to arrive in Malta this year, is made up of 133 men, 28 women and a child. The tanker during the night requested a supply of blankets but they could not be delivered because of the rough sea.

The tanker is continuing to ride the storm off Malta.

Earlier in the day the rough seas also forced rescue teams to suspend a search for a missing Maltese diver at Ghajn Tuffieha.