At least two boats carrying approximately 40 migrants each have drifted into Malta’s search and rescue area on Wednesday, as the authorities scramble to establish if there are any others.  

Sources involved in the Armed Force’s section in charge of monitoring migrant crossings in the central Mediterranean told Times of Malta that the two dinghies had been confirmed in the Maltese SAR zone but there could be others that have drifted in and have not yet been identified.

Over the past two days a number of dinghies have left the west coast of Libya en route north to Europe, the sources said, adding that they were bracing for the possibility of further arrivals this week.   

Malta has closed its ports to asylum seekers and has moved to set up a temporary offshore detention centre onboard a tourist day cruise vessel.  

At present, some 57 migrants are on board Captain Morgan’s Europa II, which has dropped anchor at a shall sandbank 13 nautical miles off the east coast of Malta. 

It is not yet clear whether the migrants on board the two dinghies in Malta’s SAR will also be transferred onto the Europa II.  

Government sources insist that none of the migrants being held out at sea on the cruise boat will be disembarked onto Malta until other EU member states have agreed to take a share. 

A further group of migrants are aboard a German cargo ship after being rescued by the ship's crew last Sunday. Lawyers for the ship, the MS Marina, say they were instructed to rescue the migrants but then not told where to disembark them.