Updated - A Briton who adopted two migrant children who were rescued - barely alive - by the Armed Forces of Malta six years ago, has joined appeals for Britain to help in rescue missions in the Mediterranean. 

Ewan Nicholson and his partner, who used to live in Malta, adopted the migrant sisters almost two years after their rescue.

Destiny, then a year old and Victoria, just six months old, were saved from certain death after being found in the water in September 2008.

AFM Sergeant Silvio Xerri had at the time told the Sunday Times of Malta that Victoria was almost dead when she was taken on board a patrol boat.

"She looked like a rag doll. She was not breathing and had no pulse," he said. 

Sgt Xerri, an engineer trained as a combat medic, said a colleague handed him the baby, who was around six months old at the time.

"There was chaos, immigrants in the sea and the two children floating face down. Her lungs were full of water," he said.

After removing the water filling her lungs and applying CPR, Victoria started stirring, although she remained unconscious. Destiny was also unconscious, but in a better state than her sister.

The sisters are believed to have lost their parents as they crossed over from Africa in a bid to reach European soil. Even their nationality is unknown.  It was sisters at a crèche who named them.

The description of the rescue given to the Sunday Times of Malta is being used by Mr Nicholson in a petition urging the UK government to help in Mediterranean rescues. See http://things-that-matter.net/2014/10/29/david-cameron-would-have-let-my-daughters-die/

UK MINISTER CLAIMS FEWER MIGRANTS MAKING THE CROSSING

Meanwhile, UK Home Office minister Lord Bates said figures suggested that the number of migrants making the treacherous journey across the Mediterranean may be starting to fall.

The UK government has refused to support future search and rescue missions after the Italian operation in the Mediterranean was wound up at the end of last month. 

UK Ministers have warned that search and rescue operations might encourage more illegal immigrants to attempt the crossing.

Lord Bates said figures from Frontex - the European Union agency dealing with border security - showed a fall in crossings in October, the last month before the Italian operation ended.

He revealed the fall as he again came under fire in the House of Lords over the Government's stance.

Former Liberal Democrat leader Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon, who has previously described the policy as "inhuman", demanded: "Why is it that the government's policy seems to be to support measures that can only have one result - to drown more refugees in the Mediterranean rather than a policy whose aim is to lock up more people traffickers.

"There is only one who has ever been arrested in Egypt, one of the main departure countries.

"A few years ago the government used all the resources at its disposal including special forces to rid the Caribbean of drug smugglers - why can we not do the same thing to rid the Mediterranean of people traffickers?"

And shadow Home Office minister Baroness Smith of Basildon asked Lord Bates: "Do you really believe this needless loss of life - people drowning in the Mediterranean - will ever act as a deterrent to the criminals drowning people or those desperate enough to get into small boats?"

Lord Bates told peers: "There are very early figures but there is some evidence from Frontex in a brief that I have received in the last 48 hours that there is a turning in the trend here.

"Remember it went up from 70,000 a year to 150,000, deaths went up from 700 to 3,000. We think that there are between 300,000 and 600,000 in Libya waiting to make the crossing.

"The indications are that in October the numbers fell. There could be other reasons for that, we are following it very closely, but this is something we take very, very seriously indeed."

And he told Lord Ashdown: "You hit the nail on the head. We need to tackle the traffickers who are placing vulnerable people in unseaworthy vessels and setting them afloat in exchange for two or three thousand euros a head.

"It is absolutely morally outrageous. They are responsible for the deaths and that is why the National Crime Agency are working with Frontex and other organisations to bring them to justice."

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.