Libyan warship rescues migrants

Two hundred immigrants who were in distress, drifting in rough seas, were rescued yesterday by a Libyan warship.

The immigrants were found adrift in a boat 70 miles north of Benghazi in the Libyan rescue area on Saturday. They have been taken back to Libya.

The warship Al-Hani passed through Maltese rescue waters to reach the immigrants and was assisted in the rescue by an Italian tanker, the Antignano, which first found the immigrants.

The alarm was raised via a satellite phone call from the boat to a United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) official late on Saturday.

An AFM spokesman denied Italian media reports saying that Maltese patrol boats were involved in the operation but he added that the Malta Rescue Coordination Centre was being kept informed. The boat was spotted in the Libyan search and rescue region and the operation was coordinated by Italian authorities together with the Libyan authorities, the spokesman said.