(Reuters) Malta plans to keep 57 rescued migrants aboard a private ship anchored just outside territorial waters until the European Union finds a way to rehouse them, Prime Minister Robert Abela said on Friday.
The migrants were plucked from a dinghy earlier this week inside Malta’s search and rescue zone by a commercial fishing vessel that had been chartered by the Maltese government to intercept possible asylum seekers.
The group were subsequently transferred to a launch normally used for tourist harbour cruises, with the EU agreeing to meet the cost of the operation until a decision had been made on where the men should go, Abela said.
