26 migrants drown as boat capsizes

Two illegal immigrants clung to their capsized boat for 24 hours before being rescued as others around them lost their grip one by one and drowned over the weekend.

In all, 26 migrants perished after their boat hit rough seas south of Malta on Friday, the AFM said. It is the latest tragedy involving Africans crossing the Mediterranean in search of a better life. Their boat had apparently left Libya five days ago.

According to sources close to the AFM, 21 died when the boat capsized but initially seven others managed to hang on for their lives. Five drowned later due to exhaustion. Despite an extensive search by the Armed Forces, no other survivors were found.

The search and rescue operation got underway on Saturday evening after the Armed Forces' Rescue Co-ordination Centre was informed that a patrolling Italian military aircraft had sighted a capsized boat approximately 70 nautical miles south of Malta.

Upon closer investigation, the aircraft noted that only two persons were still clinging to the boat.

Malta's Rescue Centre assumed responsibility for the rescue and immediately dispatched an AFM Islander aircraft to the site to supervise and co-ordinate the recovery of the two persons by a Maltese registered ship. The mv Comet was fairly close by and had been asked to assist.

An Italo-Maltese crewed helicopter of the Italian Military Mission was sent to pick up the two men.

They were winched aboard and flown to St Luke's Hospital for medical treatment. They are claiming to be Sudanese.

In a separate operation on Saturday evening, the AFM Rescue Co-ordination Centre dispatched a rescue boat 30 nautical miles to the South East of Delimara to recover a seaman who had sustained a hand injury on board the South African registered mv Skanderborg. The 42-year-old Polish seaman was brought ashore for medical attention.

Reported sea tragedies involving irregular immigrants over the last year:

August - About 130 immigrants die after their boat is believed to have sunk in stormy waters between Malta and Sicily.

July - Seven illegal immigrants drown in rough seas 70 nautical miles south of Malta. Fifteen men and one woman are brought to Malta on board a patrol boat.

June - The AFM lose hope of finding 27 migrants whose boat is believed to have sunk in Maltese territorial waters.

May - A boat heading north sinks off the coast of Libya and at least 14 African migrants drown.

March - Nine Chinese immigrants are forced to jump to their deaths off the coast of Ragusa in a shocking case of human trafficking. The immigrants allegedly left Malta on board a speedboat steered by two Maltese men and were forced to jump into the freezing sea at gunpoint, even though they were 15 miles away from the Sicilian shore.

January - A number of illegal immigrants are lost at sea, feared drowned.

December 2004 - An illegal immigrant, trying to make his way to Malta along with 19 others, is recovered dead from the sea.

November 2004 - Ten boat people disappear 12 miles south of Malta.

October 2004 - Sixty-four African migrants are believed to have drowned after their overcrowded boat capsizes en route from Tunisia. Eleven are rescued.

October 2004 - Two illegal immigrants die when a boat with another 19 passengers on board capsizes about 70 miles off the Maltese coast.

August 2004 - A total of 100 immigrants are rescued but it later becomes known that 26 persons were thrown overboard after they succumbed to the gruelling voyage.