An emergency rescue hotline is claiming a group of 45 people who left north Africa on a boat five days ago need rescuing as they are in distress.

Alarmphone was on Thursday informed about the group who fled from Egypt and found themselves in distress south of Crete.

It immediately alerted the Armed Forces of Malta and the Hellenic Coast Guard.

However, it said "Malta won’t confirm if a rescue operation is underway, while Greece is denying responsibility and tells us to call Malta.

"Meanwhile, nearby vessels do not receive instructions for rescue. Stop playing with people’s lives," it urged on Twitter.

By Friday morning, it warned that despite its continuous effort to keep track of the people in distress, "the so-called responsible EU authorities still fail to live up to their responsibility".

The boat was still out at sea by Friday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Alarmphone has lost track of another boat which on Thursday was in distress.

This was one of three that were reportedly in Malta's search-and-rescue area.

A total of 63 people from two fibreglass boats in distress were eventually rescued by Médecins Sans Frontières, increasing the number of migrant survivors aboard its Geo Barents to 659.

Questions sent to the AFM remained unanswered.