Stranded migrants disappear in European waters

Cornish coastguards who today responded to an apparent cry for help from 59 people apparently adrift in an inflatable boat off the coast of Libya have been unable to find the vessel.

An Ethiopian man in the UK, who said his brother-in-law was one of the passengers, alerted the UK coastguard at around midnight.

He said he had received a satellite phone call from someone aboard the raft.

Officers in Falmouth, Cornwall, then rang the number of the satellite phone. The person they spoke to said those on the raft had been the victims of a human trafficking operation and had been stripped of their money and left without food and water.

A distress call was sent out to attract the help of any ships in the area and a Tunisian registered supply vessel, the Ashtart, responded.

However, when it sailed to the inflatable boat's last known position, there was no sign of it.

A maritime and coastguard agency spokesman said: "They came across two vessels containing about 80 people that were making their way under command and had no need of assistance.

"There were also fishing vessels in the area. The Ashtart has continued on its passage and Falmouth coastguard station will continue to liaise with other international rescue centres in the Mediterranean as to the next steps."

The spokesman could not say whether the call had been a hoax. "The coastguard is not in a position to question someone's phone call," he said. "We have had calls like this before where people's lives have been saved on the other side of the world by the British coastguard."

The spokesman said the number they had been contacting on the drifting vessel was now going to answerphone.

Earlier, when officers spoke to a passenger, the passenger said those on board had left North Africa, trying to get to Europe, two days ago and had been cast adrift late last night after being told they were in Italian waters.

‘the largest mass grave in the world’

Malta, already densely populated, has been struggling for years to persuade the Libyan authorities to cut migration from the country's coast. The Libyan government says it does not have the means to patrol its long coastline adequately.

 
Malta's interior minister, Tonio Borg, said yesterday the latest crisis was solely a matter for Spain and Libya, "since the rescue took place in Libyan waters and the clandestine migrants are on a Spanish fishing vessel".

"That appears to be the case," said Ms Boldrini, who noted that a further 57 migrants photographed by Maltese rescuers last week had since disappeared without trace and were thought to have drowned.

Laura Boldrini, a Rome-based spokeswoman for the UN's high commissioner for refugees, was speaking as Libya, Malta and Spain continued to wrangle over the fate of 26 migrants from Africa, more than two days after they were plucked from the Mediterranean. The three governments were refusing to take in the migrants, who were stranded on a Spanish vessel last reported 80 miles south of Malta, about halfway between the island and the Libyan coast.