27 migrants feared dead off Maltese coast
Some 27 migrants travelling in a dinghy were reported missing, feared dead, off Malta, Maltese authorities said today.
Members of Malta’s armed forces had tried to locate the boat yesterday after one of the passengers managed to call Italian authorities on a mobile phone and alert them that the boat was taking on water.
The Italians contacted Maltese authorities because the immigrants were thought to be in Maltese territorial waters.
The phone service provider was able to give Maltese authorities an approximate position of the craft, and Maltese patrol boats and aircraft fanned out in search of the dinghy.
But the armed forces said today that contact had been lost and that nothing had been heard from the boat since.
