A MALTESE soldier told a boatload of refugees last month that he would leave them to die in the water after sabotaging their engine, according to testimony about the incident published by refugee-rights activists today.

Alarm Phone, a transnational network which operates a hotline for people in distress in the Mediterranean, was contacted on April 8 by a group of 66 refugees in waters close to Malta’s search-and-rescue zone.

Alarm Phone said that it had contacted the Maltese authorities 42 times over the following two days before the refugees were finally disembarked in Malta.