90 stranded migrants taken aboard merchant ship

90 migrants aboard a wooden vessel have been taken aboard the Merchant ship, ‘Marina’. 

Ship tracking website ‘Vessel Finder’ locates the ‘Marina’ just outside Lampedusa. 

Another 60 individuals who were on a dinghy, were also escorted by the 'Epsilon' towards Lampedusa. 

Both sets of migrants were some 30 nautical miles off Lampedusa, and 100 nautical miles from Malta. 

A wooden boat carrying around 90 migrants on-board was reported in Malta’s Search and Rescue Zone on Sunday morning.

Humanitarian NGO Alarm Phone tweeted the news, stating that a pregnant woman on-board needs medical assistance. 

Two merchant ships, the ‘Marina’ and ‘Pyxis Epsilon’ are monitoring the wooden vessel, with Alarm Phone stating that “no rescue is in sight”. 

The NGO also said it contacted Maltese and Italian authorities to launch an immediate rescue.   

A rescue is being coordinated by Malta. 

The vessel comes as a further 56 migrants are currently on-board a Captain Morgan ship in the middle of the sea, which is still awaiting assistance from the EU. 

Italian newspaper Mediterraneo said that around 9:00 am, ‘Pyxis Epsilon’ identified the boat 30 miles off the port of Lampedusa, and changed its status to "SAR Manoeuvring”.

By 8:15 am, the NGO Alarm Phone had also reported that it lost contact with the boat, whose last situation was deemed as critical.