Boat with 400 migrants adrift between Greece and Malta, support service says

A vessel with around 400 people on board is adrift between Greece and Malta and is taking on water, support service Alarm Phone said on Sunday, after a sharp rise of migrant boats crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa.

Alarm Phone said on Twitter they had received a call from the boat, which departed from Tobruk, in Libya, overnight and that they had informed authorities. But authorities had not launched a rescue operation so far, they added.

Alarm Phone said the boat was now in the Maltese Search and Rescue area (SAR).

German NGO Sea-Watch International said on its Twitter account it had found the boat with two merchant ships nearby.

It said the Maltese authorities had ordered the ships not to carry out a rescue and that one of them was just asked to supply it with fuel.

It was not immediately possible to reach Maltese authorities for...