MILAN: Support service Alarm Phone said on Sunday that a ship with about 400 people on board is adrift between Libya and Malta is taking on water.
Alarm Phone said on social media that they had received a call from the ship, which departed from Libya. They said that no rescue operation has been started so far.
Alarm Phone added people on board were freaking, with many of them requiring medical support.
Ship with Over 400 Migrants Adrift Between Malta, Libya
The ship was out of fuel while its lower deck was full of water, while the captain of the boat had left and there was no one who could steer the ship, they maintained. The support service said that the ship was in the Maltese Search and Rescue area now. It was not immediately possible to reach Maltese authorities.
A German NGO Resqship said that twenty three migrants have passed away last night in the Mediterranean in a separate incident.
They said on social media account that they found twenty five people in the water during a rescue and search operation, and that they were in position to recover twenty two survivors and 2 bodies.
But Resqship maintained their crew was told around 20 other persons had already died.
Earlier, 440 migrants were saved in Malta following a complex rescue operation in seas by the Geo Barents ship of the Doctors without Borders (MSF) aid group, while 23 African migrants went missing and 4 died on Saturday following their ships sank off Tunisia as they made an attempt to reach Europe.
