About 70 migrants found stranded 40 nautical miles off the Libyan coast were taken to Lampedusa yesterday following an operation coordinated jointly between Malta and Italy.

Ten dead bodies were recovered from the sea during the operation.

The Armed Forces of Malta’s operations centre in Luqa was notified on Saturday at noon and immediately dispatched a King Air B200 maritime patrol aircraft to investigate.

The dinghy was located 140 nautical miles from Lampedusa and 146 nautical miles from Malta. At first glance, the migrants appeared to be in distress with the front of the boat partially submerged.

The aircraft established contact with merchant vessel M/V Seyma, which was in the area, and directed the ship to alter course and head towards the migrants to provide assistance.

The maritime patrol aircraft assumed a pivotal role during the operation as it relayed messages between the Seyma and Italian Coast Guard patrol boats that were ordered to the area by the Italian Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Rome.

Two Italian Coast Guard patrol boats and Italian navy warship Foscari started the rescue operation at 8.30pm on Saturday.

A total of 62 men and eight women were saved and taken to Lampedusa.

The search was suspended last night.

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