Although the AFM was told by one of the illegal immigrants’ relatives in Malta that one of the boats had successfully reached Libya, the country’s RCC failed to confirm whether the boat had reached its shores. Furthermore, while Libya confirmed that an aircraft had been dispatched to search for the other boat, it added nothing was spotted in the assigned area.

The case started on Thursday afternoon, 47 miles off the Libyan coast and well within the Libyan Search and Rescue Region of responsibility, when the illegal immigrants sent a distress call through a relative in Malta. The information was forwarded to the AFM which immediately contacted Libyan and Italian RCCs.

On Friday, an illegal immigrant on one of the boats managed to re-establish contact the relative residing in Malta, after contact had been lost earlier during the day. The illegal immigrants reconfirmed that they required assistance and gave their latest position. By the evening, the AFM were still waiting for Libya to inform it of any developments resulting from a search it had promised to carry out.

Meanwhile, in a separate development, the RCC in Rome told Malta that a boatload of 300 illegal immigrants had left the Libyan port of Zuwarah  on Saturday at 1100CEST and was heading in a Northerly direction.  The AFM's Protector-class OPV P-52, already some 15 nautical miles in the south of Malta at 1157CEST, had reported nothing in sight.

Later in the afternoon, an AFM Air Wing Islander aircraft conducted a search South of Malta between 1343CEST and 1620CEST, also reporting that nothing was spotted in the indicated area.

See also: MLP backs governement's illegal immigration stance