Around 70 asylum seekers have spent the night in extreme distress on a rickety boat in Malta’s search and rescue zone, according to emergency hotline Alarm Phone.

“They were very upset yesterday and very desperate and we explained to them we would contact the Maltese authorities again. Then the call broke and we were not able to reach them anymore,” said a spokesperson of the NGO.

While Alarm Phone had contacted the Maltese authorities on Wednesday at 5.30am, the Armed Forces of Malta told Times of Malta on Thursday it had no information about the boat.

“We know that there were air assets out over the area in the night, and it’s highly probable they saw the boat,” the spokesperson of the hotline said.

She said that the AFM were being extremely uncooperative. They either didn’t pick up the phone and when they did, they didn’t speak at all, she added.

The NGO had also been monitoring another boat carrying 85 people including 2 children, however, they were not sure as to the location of the vessel as they had lost contact with them.

Ministers were summoned to a late-night meeting at Castille on Wednesday to discuss Malta's reaction after Italy closed its harbours - including Lampedusa - to NGO migrant rescue ships, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The Malta government is expected to issue a statement outlining Malta’s position and a number of possible scenarios once it is concluded. 

Earlier on Wednesday, the authorities had sent a diplomatic message to Germany, informing it that it would not allow migrants rescued at sea by NGO ships to disembark here.

According to the UNHCR, 2,794 asylum seekers have crossed the Mediterranean this year so far, and 163 people are feared dead or missing.