MSF rescues 440 migrants from fishing boat off Malta in stormy seas

A total of 440 migrants have been rescued from an overcrowded fishing boat in international waters off Malta, after a complex 11-hour operation in stormy seas, the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) charity said on Wednesday.
MSF said its Geo Barents vessel struggled with the overnight rescue due to the rough weather conditions, and initially could do little more than throw life jackets to the migrants.
Alarm Phone, a charity that picks up distress calls from migrants’ vessels in the Mediterranean, warned two days ago that the boat was in difficulty.
Italy is facing a surge in sea migration from North Africa, with more than 28,000 arrivals in the year to date, compared to around 6,800 in the same period of 2022.
The migrants rescued by MSF spent four days at sea, the last two without food or water, after setting off from eastern Libya, near Benghazi, on April 1, the charity’s spokesperson Flavia Pergola said.