Some 70 people are in a sinking boat in Malta's search and rescue zone, an NGO reported on Monday.

Alarm Phone said it had alerted the Maltese armed forces to the situation and called for immediate rescue since the boat is taking in water. 

A spokesperson from the NGO told Times of Malta that the boat has been out at sea for the past two days after leaving Khoms in Libya.

“We called and emailed the Armed Forces of Malta this morning. They noted the information, but did not say whether any action will be taken.”

Questions have been sent to the Home Affairs Ministry. 

At the beginning of August, the NGO raised the alarm over three boats carrying 400 migrants drifting in Malta's SAR. The migrants in two of the boats were rescued by Italian authorities and one by Maltese.

In July, the AFM rescued 81 migrants. A further three were found dead in a boat. 

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.