A vessel with around 400 people on board is adrift between Greece and Malta and is taking on water, support service Alarm Phone says, after a sharp rise of migrant boats crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa.
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.
The support service says people on board were panicking, with several of them requiring medical attention. The vessel was out of fuel and its lower deck was full of water, while the captain had left and there was nobody who could steer the boat, they said.
