The Armed Forces of Malta (AFM) rescued 38 people in distress in Maltese waters and they were disembarked in Malta, a spokesperson from the Home Affairs Ministry said on Saturday.
The rescue took place late on Friday after the AFM's attention was drawn to the migrants by Alarm Phone, an emergency hotline NGO which receives SOS messages from migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea.
"The authorities are trying to process their asylum claims as swiftly as possible, so those who are found to not qualify for asylum can start the process of being sent back to their country of origin," the spokesperson said.
She added that plans to swiftly process the asylum applications are in line with a new migration pact proposed by the European Commission to share responsibility for migrants across member states.
The pact seeks to accelerate the repatriation of failed asylum seekers by setting a 12-week time limit to process applications of asylum seekers coming from countries with an acceptance rate lower than 20 percent.
Alarm Phone said the vessel was first spotted on Friday and was being closely monitored by a Malta-flagged merchant vessel, Ambra. Its crew said the AFM patrol boat approached the vessels and tried to repair its engine but were not successful, so the migrants were rescued and disembarked in Malta.
SOURCE: Xinhua
