The youngest victim who died when a boat capsized during a rescue operation less than four miles off Malta was 22 years old, information tabled in parliament revealed.
Last month, five people died and eight were injured when a boat capsized close to fish farms off Żonqor, during a rescue operation by the Armed Forces of Malta. An estimated 34 people from Syria, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Egypt were in the boat at the time of the rescue.
Apart from the five who died, eight were taken to hospital and another 21 were taken to the Safi detention centre for processing.
Out of the five people who died, the youngest were a 22-year-old man from Eritrea, and a 23-year-old woman from Ghana. There was another man from Ghana, but his age is unknown.
Another victim was a 31-year-old man from Bangladesh and a 33-year-old Syrian man.
The ages were provided by Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri in a reply to a series of parliamentary questions on the February rescue by Opposition MP Albert Buttigieg.
Camilleri said the ages of the victims were identified after some of their passports were found and information was provided by third parties.
Buttigieg also asked for details on the injuries of the eight people who were admitted to Mater Dei Hospital. He asked both Camilleri and Health Minister Jo Etienne Abela.
Camilleri said he was informed that all eight people were released from the hospital. Abela, on the other hand, said the information on their injuries is being collected.
Abela was also asked for the ages and nationalities of the eight people who were admitted to the hospital, yet he said the Emergency Department did not have the requested information because the individuals did not have a passport or means of identification on them when they were admitted.
Camilleri also said that AFM did not receive any distress calls from the boat days before the rescue took place.
Buttigieg also asked if funerals would be held for the five individuals who died, to which Camilleri said due to the ongoing magisterial inquiry, arrangements for their funerals can only be made after the bodies are released by the same inquiry.