Mohammed Abdel Laal Shemi was photographed with one daughter on the front of The Sunday Times of Malta, [inset] and yesterday he broke down after hearing her twin sister may still be alive. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi

The tension was palpable at the Ħal Far open centre yesterday when one of the immigrants who arrived on Friday was informed by fellow Syrians that his missing daughter had been spotted alive on news footage of the rescue.

Mohammed Abdel Laal Shemi, a Syrian national, burst into tears and then fainted when he heard the news – his fellow countrymen wet his face and lifted his legs, while another made sure he did not swallow his tongue.

Mr Laal Shemi, 34, was one of the 143 migrants rescued by the Armed Forces of Malta on Friday when their dinghy capsized after taking in water some 60 miles south of Lampedusa.

The tragedy is threatening to tear Mr Laal Shemi’s life apart – his wife, who is five months pregnant with twins, and their five-year-old twin daughters were on the ill-fated boat before it capsized.

One of his daughters, Lamar, was rescued but until yesterday afternoon he was still in the dark about the fate of his pregnant wife and his other young girl.

Last night, ambulances, social workers, psychologists and a team of experts gathered at the open centre to give immigrants the awaited news about their loved ones after Malta received photographs of all those who survived the trip and who were safe in Lampedusa.

However, until last night nobody could confirm whether Mr Laal Shemi’s wife and child were still alive as the media was not allowed back into the open centre.

It was a Syrian national living in Malta who earlier in the day told Mr Laal Shemi that he had spotted his daughter on news footage of the rescue on their arrival in Lampedusa.

The version changed slightly some time later when he was told it was “someone who looks like your daughter”.

With brief moments of understandable panic, Mohammed borrowed an iPhone from a French journalist to see with his own eyes but although he spent a heart-wrenching hour trying to track down this footage, he did not succeed.

He later borrowed someone else’s mobile to make a call, and he was seen crouching beside a car crying profusely.

Mr Laal Shemi said he felt he had no choice but to flee his country and Libya in search for a better life in Europe.

“We had heard there was this way to get to Europe. We knew it was not safe but we felt we had no choice,” he said.

He explained he had paid $1,500 for himself, another $1,500 for his wife and $900 for each of his two daughters.

“When we were on the boat, Libyan militia put their machine guns to our heads and demanded more money. I had $5,000 and they took those too,” Mohammed said.

He said the Libyan militia followed them on their boats for four or five hours then started shooting at them and their boat’s engines.

“They were following us. All of a sudden, they started shooting at us and the boat. They injured two people with their bullets. All I could think of at that time was protecting my two young children.

“Then they started shooting at the boat and punctured it. It was filling quite fast and we all ended up in the sea. I grabbed my daughter. She swallowed water but I managed to swim and we got onto a raft rescuers threw in the water,” Mr Laal Shemi said.

He said he was desperate to know the whereabouts of his wife, Tagrid, 34, and daughter.

“I spoke to another survivor and he said he saw my daughter being taken away by the Italian boats but I have not heard anything about that and I have no confirmation. I heard nothing about my wife,” Mr Laal Shemi said breaking down.