Ninety-five asylum seekers rescued by Armed Forces of Malta
AFM rescues second group of migrants within less than 24 hours of first operation.
12 May 2012, 12:00am
Matthew Vella
Matthew Vella
1 min read
Two rescue operations were carried out on within less than 24 hours by the AFM.
A total of 95 boat migrants were rescued by Malta's armed forces early this morning, in two rescue missions effected in the early hours.
Alerts of an impending arrivals reached MaltaToday's newsroom on Friday afternoon from Italy, whose Rome rescue coordination centre had spotted the migrants earlier on in the day.
Early Saturday morning at 1:30am, the AFM brought in 47 migrants located south-west of Zurrieq at six nautical miles out at sea. They included women and children.
Two AFM patrol boats and helicopter were dispatched to search and rescue the migrants, who were taken on board the two patrol boats.
Earlier at 8:40pm on Friday, 48 migrants were escorted to Malta after they were spotted in the area of Filfla. The 38 men and eight women of unknown nationality were met by AFM and Police personnel in the area of Ghar Lapsi, Zurrieq, after two AFM patrol boats and a helicopter were dispatched.
They include two pregnant women were reported to be in good physical health.
This is the third boat to land in less than a week, with a previous 88 persons landing in the area of Ghajn Tuffieha last Sunday evening.
The migrants will be accommodated at a closed detention centre for medical screening before being informed of their right to seek asylum in Malta.
Matthew Vella, a freelance journalist at MaltaToday, was formerly executive editor at Malt...
