Some 80 migrants are adrift on two boats, one near Malta and the other on the Italian island of Lampedusa, without these two countries responding to requests for help, the Alarm Fone service denounced this Sunday.
“Around 10 people are in danger off Malta. We are in contact with a group fleeing eastern Libya in a small boat. We alerted the authorities, but as always they are ignoring all the rescue demands,” members of that service, which handles requests for help from migrants in the central Mediterranean, wrote on social media.
Earlier, Alarm Fone had announced that another 70 migrants, who were in danger off Malta on Saturday, are now facing Lampedusa.
“The group is at sea in danger, no one has come to their aid yet. They are located just 34 kilometers from the island, with easy access to any rescue resource. But the authorities prefer not to help,” he added.
Since the beginning of this year, and until August 12, 45,664 immigrants have arrived on Italian shores, a significant increase compared to the 32,782 who had arrived in the same period of the previous year, according to data from the Italian Ministry of the Interior.
Source: Observadora
