Thirteen divers were rescued when they found themselves in difficulty off Żurrieq yesterday, barely half an hour after three men were saved from a barge caught in rough seas.

In the first incident, at about 12.15pm, the Armed Forces of Malta answered a distress call by a Togo-registered bunkering barge with three crew members on board.

The crew members, including a Maltese man, were hoisted up to a helicopter and taken to safety.

The barge remained anchored off Malta and was not considered a danger to other ships, an AFM spokesman said. The owner would decide what to do with the barge once weather conditions improved.

At about 12.45pm yesterday  half an hour after the first distress call reached the AFM  the army was informed that 13 divers found themselves in difficulty off Żurrieq.

The divers were assisted by an AFM rescue swimmer and taken safely to shore aboard a civilian vessel.