23 migrants rescued from drifting dinghy

A group of 23 migrants were brought ashore in a rescue operation coordinated by the armed forces yesterday, bringing the number of irregular migrants rescued this year up to 290.

The migrants’ crowded inflatable vessel was found adrift some 58 nautical miles south of the island after it developed engine trouble.

The gruelling nine-hour rescue operation, which began in the early hours of Saturday morning, had taken a visible toll on the 23 passengers, one of whom was heavily pregnant.

The migrants, believed to be of Somali origin, staggered off the AFM’s P24 patrol boat mostly barefoot and dressed in layers of hooded sweat shirts to stave off the open water’s cold night temperatures.

“They’re in better shape than the others,” one young AFM officer said referring to another group of 18 migrants who were escorted to Ċirkewwa in a separate operation on Saturday morning.

An AFM spokesman said significant numbers of migrants were expected in the coming weeks as clearer weather would facilitate their voyages. The first migrants to make the trip this year were brought in on March 29. They were a group of 82 Africans claiming to be Somali and had been found in a long dinghy some 70 nautical miles south of Malta.

In the same month about 260 migrants landed on the Italian island of Lampedusa.

On April 19, 84 migrants were rescued after being found aboard a dingy some 88 nautical miles south-west of Malta, while three weeks later 82 men and one woman were brought ashore after spending several hours stranded in a 10-metre dingy that was taking in water.

On Saturday morning two Maltese men and two foreigners were arrested on suspicion of human trafficking.