Maltese and Italian rescue crews struggled with distress calls from some three vessels carrying up to 1,500 migrants which found themselves in trouble just outside Libyan waters.

Times of Malta managed to contact migrants on one of the boats through a satellite phone number provided by a source. The migrants were on board the largest vessel in distress, carrying some 620 of them.

According to the source, they left the Libyan coastal town of Sabratha west of Tripoli at about 3.30am yesterday.

However, they launched an SOS, calling the Rome rescue coordination centre early in the afternoon after the engine on their boat stopped when the vessel started taking in water which got mixed with the fuel.

A man, who said he was Eritrean, described the situation on the boat as dire.

“Please help us [inaudible] we are nearly die [ing], we don’t have food, we don’t have water to drink, please we are suffering, help us please,” he said.

“Many people are vomiting, we have no water, we have no food… and the engine, sometimes it is stopping,” the migrant said.

Please help us, we are nearly die [ing], we don’t have food, we don’t have water

He said the migrants on board were from Eritrea, Somalia and some from Ethiopia. There were many women on board, one of them pregnant, and at least two children.

The vessel had just made it outside Libyan waters when the engine started failing.

One of the vessels with 235 migrants on board was rescued by the Italian coastguard in the afternoon some 100 kilometres south of Lampedusa.

Italian and Maltese vessels were still steaming towards the other two boats in the same area by the time of writing.

The third boat in distress was believed to be carrying some 400 migrants.

Sources in Libya said the other two boats most probably left from Zuwara, a main smuggling site about 10 kilometres from Sabratha.

The sources said that, given the weather conditions and the relatively calm situation in the smuggling hubs, the likelihood was that there would be many more hundreds of migrants making the crossing in the next few days.

Only five days ago, the Italian authorities said they had rescued another group of some 1,500 migrants from several vessels in a 24-hour period.

Agencies and stakeholders are predicting an apocalyptic season this summer with unrest in Libya and other parts of North Africa and the Middle East driving numbers up.

Transcript

Migrant: Hello...

TOM: Hello... is there someone who speaks English?

Migrant: Hello, hello... OK, OK

Individual 2: Hello

TOM: Hello, hi, do you speak English?

Migrant: Ya... I speak English ya.

TOM: I am told that you are on a boat right now and you are trying to reach Europe.

Migrant: Aah, but I don’t know ... [inaudible]...

TOM: How many people are on board?

Migrant: We are 620 people...

TOM: What nationalities are you?

Migrant: We are from Eritrea. Most of us are Eritreans, some of them are Somalis and very few are Ethiopian...

TOM: Is the boat working or are you in trouble?

Migrant: Yes we are travelling.

TOM: You are travelling...

Migrant: Ya, but... [inaudible] ...was mixing oil with water, is travelling... slowly and suddenly the engine stopped, completely stopped.

TOM: So your engine isn’t working.

Migrant: It is working but almost... [inaudible]...

TOM: You’re taking in water... right now.

Migrant: Yes.

Migrant: The woman [inaudible] are also pregnant.

TOM: How many women are on board?

Migrant: [inaudible] The largest number is women.

Migrant: Please help us [inaudible] we are nearly die [ing], we don’t have food, we don’t have water to drink, please we are suffering, help us please.