A total of 56 would-be immigrants were rescued off Malta early Thursday morning and brought to shore following two separate operations, DPA reported. In the first, the owner of a tanker vessel alerted Maltese officials that his crew had come across a group of Africans on board a rickety boat who were asking for fuel and food. A Maltese rescue vessel was dispatched to the scene, bringing 26 would-be immigrants, including two women to shore. In a second rescue operation, 30 men were initially picked up by an Italian fishing boat 40 nautical miles south of Malta. According to Maltese military officials, some members of the group had tried to board the fishing vessel, obliging the Italian boat's crew to take all the migrants on board. The migrants were later also brought to Malta. Malta, a tiny island state, has been grappling over the past weeks with the arrival of hundreds of would-be immigrants, a situation which has prompted an accommodation crisis inside the island's immigrant reception centres.
