Malta rescues more than 200 migrants in Mediterranean Sea

World
Europe

A Maltese armed forces patrol boat picked up more than 200 migrants from two dinghies in the Mediterranean and was bringing them to Malta on Saturday, a spokesman said.

At least one pregnant woman and a number of children were believed to be among the rescued. Their nationality was not known.

A spokesman for the Maltese navy said a patrol boat had been deployed to a sinking dinghy south of Malta on Friday.

The navy said the migrants were on board two boats, and the first group was rescued after it "sent out a distress call that their boat was taking in water."

Migrants line up to get on a police bus after they disembarked from a Malta armed forces patrol boat, Valletta, Malta, May 25, 2019. /Reuters Photo

After picking up the first group, the boat was diverted to a second dinghy "after receiving another distress call."

The armed forces said that with good weather conditions prevailing, departures of migrants from Libya, Tunisia, and Algeria had increased in the past two days, resulting in 12 boats arriving in Sicily, Sardinia, and Lampedusa.

Malta, an island of 450,000 people is a common destination for refugees and migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean from North Africa. More than 500 migrants have reached Malta this year, while 1,425 have made it to Italy, which has a population 130 times larger and takes a hardline stance on migrants with the surge of far-right powers.

Malta is the closest island nation to Libya. /CGTN Photo

Malta has appealed to the EU for help in dealing with the flow of migrants on Saturday when it was holding a vote for the European Union parliament. Its determination not to receive African migrants who risk their lives to cross the Mediterranean jars with its economic boom and labor shortages.

According to Malta's ministry of labor in August last year, Malta needs 30,000 foreign workers in the next four years just to sustain the country's current six percent growth rate.

While joblessness blights much of southern Europe, the country created 10,000 jobs annually and its working-age population can only fill a quarter of them.

Malta's economy is desperate for workers but the country is in political denial over migration.

(With input from agencies.)