MIGRANTS RESCUED AFTER RAFT SINKS NEAR MALTA

      Valletta, Malta, 12 Dhul Hijja 1434/17 October 2013 (MINA) – More than 128 migrants have been rescued after their raft sank off the Mediterranean coast of Malta, amid a fresh appeal by the country’s prime minister to Europe to take action to manage the growing influx of refugees.

       Winds and seas were rocking the raft when it was spotted by a Maltese patrol aircraft on Wednesday, Al Jazeera quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

      A tanker was the first on the scene but its crew said they could not haul the migrants on board, forcing an intervention by a US navy ship headquartered in Naples, Italy.

      The boat issued an SOS call because it risked capsizing in strong winds and high waves. The migrants were taken back to Malta.

      Hundreds of asylum-seekers have drowned in two tragedies this month – the first on October 3 near the Italian island of Lampedusa, the second on October 11 between Lampedusa and Malta.

      Meanwhile, Maltese prime minister Joseph Muscat called on the European Union to “translate words into action”, following promises of greater assistance with asylum-seekers.

      Previous, goverment of Sicily Italy has declared a state of emergency due to rising numbers of migrants coming by boats from the Mediterranean sea.

     Drones, warships and helicopters were deployed on Tuesday inside and outside Italian waters to scare-off people-smugglers, following two tragic shipwrecks this month in which more than 400 Eritrean, Somali and Syrian refugees drowned.

     Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta said on Tuesday that the navy had rescued 290 migrants near the island of Lampedusa, Italy’s southernmost territory.

     The latest arrivals came on top of the 32,000 asylum seekers that the United Nations refugee agency said have landed in Italy and Malta so far this year.

     A summit of EU leaders in Brussels next week is expected to discuss the refugee issue. (T/P09/E1).

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).