Updated 7.40pm, adds migrants' arrival in Malta
A group of migrants who departed by boat from Lebanon and had been left adrift in Maltese waters after their distress calls were ignored by authorities have finally reached Malta.
Migrant sea rescue group Alarm Phone said on Twitter it first received a distress call from the people on board the boat on Wednesday. The boat had suffered some damage and was now drifting in Malta’s search and rescue zone, they said.
A spokesperson for Alarm Phone told Times of Malta that there were 80 people on board the vessel, who had told them that their boat had begun to take in water shortly after they were stranded adrift.
The NGO said that, on Wednesday and Thursday, a number of commercial vessels and even a US Navy vessel had travelled close to the vessel and were ordered to continue on their way by the Armed Forces of Malta without offering assistance to the people.
A representative of Nordic Hamburg Ship management, which controls the merchant ship Bruce, told Alarm Phone that the vessel was ordered to change course on Wednesday afternoon and approach the boat in distress.
While awaiting further instructions from Malta, the crew of the Bruce had set up a rescue boat on the water and, in the meantime, provided fresh water to the migrants on board the vessel. After waiting for between two to three hours, Bruce was told by the AFM that they were released and to continue with their intended journey.
The spokesperson said that the people on board told them that the merchant vessel Sibi and the US Navy Vessel Yuma had come close to them but did not provide any assistance.
The Malta-flagged ship Nore had stopped next to the boat in distress for several hours and was now on a course towards Malta, the spokesperson said.
It is not known whether the people in distress have been taken on board the Nore or not.
“Before we lost contact they also told us they probably couldn’t make it through the night,” Alarm Phone said on Thursday.
“We are extremely worried and wonder if the Armed Forces of Malta just let a tragedy unfold before their eyes. Why tell ships to divert course and merely stand by watching while people are suffering? This is not only inhumane and cruel but illegal and against maritime law!”
On Friday morning, Alarm Phone said it had been more than 24 hours since they were last able to contact the boat and anxious relatives had been calling to ask for news.
“Malta is ignoring all requests for information and treating the fate of 80 people as a state secret. We demand answers,” they said.
But later in the afternoon, the NGO tweeted that it was informed by relatives that the migrants had reached Malta.
"We do not have any news from the Maltese authorities but hope that this is true and that they have safely reached Europe," it tweeted.
Times of Malta has contacted the Home Affairs Ministry and the AFM for comment.
Malta has frequently been accused of failing to abide by search and rescue obligations in its waters and asylum seekers have even taken the government to court for orchestrating pushbacks to Libya and breaching their human rights.
Migration was even one of the principal themes of Pope Francis’ visit to Malta earlier this year, with the Pope urging the country to offer a safe harbour to migrants and not view them as statistics, but as human beings. He also warned authorities not to be complicit in the violation of fundamental rights.
However, Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri has pushed back at these accusations and said that Malta would not be turned into a Mediterranean “migration hub”.
Camilleri has said that the government’s approach to migration has led to the creation of a “more just” asylum system and served as a deterrent to people smugglers.