Malta says loses contact with African migrant boat
22 May 2007 08:28:42 GMT Source: Reuters
(adds rescue of second boat, paragraph 4) VALLETTA May 22 (Reuters) - Maltese authorities said on Tuesday they had lost contact with a boat carrying 53 African migrants that was seen taking on water 90 miles south of this Mediterranean island. The Maltese armed forces had been tracking the vessel with a military aircraft after one of the passengers on board sent a distress signal to an African resident in Malta. A patrol boat was dispatched but could not find the migrant craft. A surveillance aircraft, which had left the scene to refuel, also could not locate the boat after returning to the area. The army later reported it had rescued 18 men and six women from another migrants' boat which capsized in rough seas in the same general area of the first boat. One man was recovered dead. Over the weekend a 23-year-old immigrant from the Ivory Coast was the only survivor when his boat, carrying 25 other Africans, sank south off Malta. The migrant was rescued by Maltese fishermen after having been in the water for some 10 hours.
