ACTIVIST rescuers called on Malta today to co-ordinate the rescue of about 60 to 80 people stranded within its Mediterranean search-and-rescue area.

Alarm Phone, an activist network that runs an emergency hotline for people in distress at Europe’s borders, said this morning that it was contacted by someone on the boat on Tuesday.

“During the night, we were contacted by a boat in distress that left Lebanon [heading] to Italy with [about] 57 people,” Alarm Phone said on social media, adding that the boat was broken and drifting.