About 500 refugees and migrants are onboard a boat in distress in the Mediterranean Sea after departing Libya for Europe, humanitarian organizations say. Italian NGO Emergency said on Wednesday that the vessel \u2013 which has 45 women and 56 children on it, including a baby born overnight at sea \u2013 was taking on water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a race against time in an attempt to save as many lives as possible,\u201d Albert Mayordomo, head of mission on the Life Support, said in a statement sent to Al Jazeera. \u201cThe absence of coordination on the part of the authorities is a grave violation of the law of the sea.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Emergency said it had contacted Maltese authorities, in line with maritime procedures, but had received no response since Tuesday when the vessel was flagged by Alarm Phone, a non-governmental organisation that relays distress calls from the Mediterranean to emergency services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Emergency said it also had forwarded a request for assistance to the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Center, which responded by saying that the case falls under the mandate of Maltese authorities. The Maltese coastguard did not respond to Al Jazeera\u2019s requests for comment while Italian authorities declined to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Paolo Fusarini, captain of Life Support, said his crew was preparing for a difficult night-time rescue. \u201cWeather conditions are not favourable,\u201d he said in a statement sent to Al Jazeera. \u201cWe are going towards waves of 1.5 meters that will make the operation more difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fusarini said he was not too hopeful of reaching the location in time and feared that many people would drown before Life Support gets there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Tuesday, Alarm Phone said local authorities had been informed of the boat\u2019s presence without specifying whether they were Maltese or Italian officials. Shortly after, German NGO Sea-Watch said it had sent its light observation aircraft, Sea Bird, to locate the vessel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Wednesday, Alarm Phone said it had lost contact with the boat. \u201cWe lost contact this morning, after we continuously alerted & updated the authorities in #Malta and #Italy,\u201d it said. \u201c500 people cannot simply disappear!\u201d Sea-Watch was unable to locate the boat and said in a tweet: \u201cThe fact that the Maltese sea rescue coordination center ignored our calls is unacceptable. We demand immediate clarification.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than 45,000 migrants and refugees have arrived in Italy over the Mediterranean so far this year, the highest number since 2017. About 1,090 people are estimated to have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean since January, according to the International Organization for Migration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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