Update 2 | Frontex locates four migrant boats at sea, Spanish NGO says Malta ignoring calls

Updated at 5:41pm on Monday

The EU’s border agency has said it has accounted for four boats carrying migrants in the Central Mediterranean, two of which have arrived in Sicily.

Two remain in the Maltese search and rescue area.

The news comes amid original reports of a capsized boat, which the Maltese government had disputed, claiming the report coincided with a Frontex sighting of a derelict dinghy at sea.

A Spanish NGO rescue vessel says it is still waiting for instructions from the Maltese authorities after it located a dinghy with 47 people on board, drifting in Malta’s search and rescue area.

The Aita Mari, operated by Spanish NGO SMH, reached the stranded migrants earlier today. It reported that there were six unconscious people on the boat and one pregnant woman that required urgent medical assistance. In a tweet this afternoon, SMH said that the weather was getting worse. “We phone again Malta. No answer... still waiting for instruction.”

#AitaMari The weather is getting worst. we phone again malta. no answer...still waiting for instruction pic.twitter.com/RTLFfnPkx7

— SMH (@smhumanitario) April 13, 2020

But on Monday, Frontex received information that the missing rubber boat first spotted on Friday arrived in Porto Palo, Sicily. A Frontex airplane based in Malta is currently on patrol to make sure that no other vessels in distress are in the area.

On Friday, a Frontex patrol plane spotted three boats with migrants in the Libyan search and rescue area. The Italy, Malta, Libya, and Tunisia rescue centres were given the exact location of the migrant boats.

On Saturday, the Frontex patrol plane spotted the fourth migrant boat in the same area. On Sunday, Frontex performed two additional flights to update the position of the boats. Two boats were located in the Maltese search and rescue area and Frontex informed the Malta MRCC.

The third boat first spotted on Friday arrived in Pozzallo in Italy on Sunday morning.

🔴When states let people drown, the #civilfleet is the only answer.

The #AitaMari rescue ship is heading to the boat in distress reported by #AlarmPhone.

They don't have sufficient medical equipment and capacity to treat the people, they need further support! https://t.co/7xHmo8E00i

— Alarm Phone (@alarm_phone) April 13, 2020

During the patrol flight on Sunday, Frontex spotted a deflated rubber boat in the Libyan search and rescue area. “The deflated rubber boat did not have an engine and there were no sign of people on the boat or nearby. This information was immediately passed to all relevant MRCC . MRCC Rome later confirmed that this boat correlated with an old incident, where the migrants were rescued and the rubber boat was left adrift empty.”

The Aita Mari was on its way to Spain from Syracuse in Sicily when it was diverted to help in the rescue of one of the migrant boats on Monday.

According to migrant rescue charity NGO Alarm Phone, the vessel “does not have sufficient medical equipment and capacity to treat the people” and requires further support.

The development came hours after Alarm Phone released a recording of a satellite phone call from a pregnant mother on the migrant boat pleading for help. The woman also has her seven-year-old child with her on the boat and is heard saying that her daughter is sick and they have no food and water on board.

The boat is one of two that is stranded at sea after both Malta and Italy refused rescue and shut their ports for migrant arrivals amid the COVID-19 crisis.

Claims that a boat capsized on Easter Sunday, have been disputed by the Maltese government, a position now supported by Frontex.

It is understood that many more migrant boats are leaving Libya’s coast, a situation that could develop into a massive humanitarian crisis.

Meanwhile, Sea-Eye’s rescue vessel Alan Kurdi, which is currently north of Sicily with 150 people on board is expecting the Italian authorities to set up an isolation ship for migrants before disembarking on the island.

Last week, Malta took in a group of 60 rescued migrants but informed the European Commission that its ports will be closed for migrant arrivals and could not guarantee resources for further rescues amid the COVID-19 pandemic.