Migrant’s drowning in Mediterranean prompts criticism of Malta's rescue policies

Handout image obtained by Reuters, October 12, 2023 shows a Medicins Sans Frontiers (MSF) rescue boat near a rubber boat carrying migrants from the Middle East and Africa, in the Mediterranean Sea, June 24, 2023. MSF/Skye McKee/Handout via REUTERS

(Reuters) - A passenger on a rubber boat adrift in the Mediterranean Sea called a rescue hotline on June 23 to plead for help. The boat – carrying 14 migrants from the Middle East and Africa – was out of fuel in choppy waters. And a male passenger had just drowned.

The craft was about 70 nautical miles off the coast of Malta, within the small island country’s search and rescue zone, according to position data recorded by Alarm Phone, the hotline operator. Within these zones, countries are obligated under international law to coordinate search and rescue operations.