300 migrants intercepted near Malta, injured migrants flown over

Updated at 11:07pm

Three of 10 migrants urgently admitted at Mater Dei Hospital were suffering from old gunshot wounds, MaltaToday has learnt.

Further investigation has revealed the gunshot wounds may have occurred over 10 days ago, and not while they were fleeing Libya today as initially reported.

Late this afternoon, a boat carrying up to 300 migrants was intercepted close to Malta. An immediate joint rescue operation between Maltese and Italian forces kicked off with the priority being to transfer the 10 migrants requiring urgent medical assistance to the closest hospital - Malta's. 

The shot migrants were winched on board a helicopter and brought over to Malta.

Official AFM sources at one point could only confirm that a number of migrants required "urgent medical assistance".

It was around 6pm when the AFM contacted Mater Dei Hospital, informing it that a number of migrants in distress had been spotted inside Maltese territorial waters.

Initial information relayed told about three migrants suffering from gunshot wounds who were in critical condition. A number of other migrants required urgent medical assistance.

As per the emergency protocol, the staff at MDH immediately kicked off with the necessary preparations including the setting up of an adequate area to receive the foreign patients.

Meanwhile, the AFM and MDH remained in continuous contact. At around 10.30pm, the situation at the A&E returned back to normality.

The migrants are expected to be brought to shore late during the night. A decision to bring the migrants to Malta was reportedly taken after the migrants' boat started taking in water.

MaltaToday is also informed that two helicopters, one Maltese and one Italian, an AFM patrol boat and dinghy and an Italian patrol boat were involved in the rescue.

No deaths were reported.

In an official statement, the Armed Forces of Malta said the vessel in distress with some 300 migrants onboard is at 40 nautical miles from the coast of Malta.

Three AFM maritime assets together with Italian Coast Guard vessels are transferring the migrants onto the Maltese and Italian patrol vessels. The migrants will be entering the maritime squadron base in the early hours of Thursday.

The first boat is expected in at Hay Wharf at 2am.