Milan: A migrant boat carrying as many as 400 people went adrift on Sunday and is currently stuck between Greece and Malta, support service Alarm Phone has informed.
Someone from the boat, which departed from Tobruk, Libya, had made a distress call to Alarm Phone and informed that the vessel stayed adrift for a night. They also said that despite alerting authorities, no rescue operation was launched to retrieve the migrants.
Alarm Phone said the boat was now in the Maltese Search and Rescue area (SAR).
The migrant boat was found in the vicinity of two merchant ships, a German NGO Sea-Watch International said on Twitter.
It said the Maltese authorities had ordered the ships not to carry out a rescue and that one of them was just asked to supply it with fuel.
Alarm Phone said that the people in the boat required medical attention. The vessel was out of fuel and its lower deck was full of water, while the captain had left and there was nobody who could steer the boat, they added.
On Sunday, another German-based NGO called Resqship, said that over 20 migrants had died in a shipwreck in the Mediterrean.
It said on Twitter the NGO found 25 people in the water during a rescue operation, and its staff were able to recover 22 survivors and two bodies, although it was told about 20 other people had already drowned.
Last week 440 migrants were rescued off Malta after a complex 11-hour operation in stormy seas by the Geo Barents vessel of the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) charity.
At least 23 African migrants were missing and four died on Saturday after their two boats sank off Tunisia as they tried to reach Italy.
Fifty-three other migrants were saved by the coast guard off the Tunisian city of Sfax, two of whom remain in critical condition. Sfax court Judge Faouzi Masmoudi added that four bodies have also been recovered.
The Tunisian coast has become a frequent accident spot with dozens of migrants going missing and dying in repeating cases of drowning accidents.
More than 14,000 migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa have been rescued or intercepted n the first three months of the year while trying to cross into Europe, five times more than the figures of last year, the National Guard said.
With inputs from agencies
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from Migrant boat with 400 people onboard adrift between Greece and Malta
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