Around 11 would-be illegal immigrants are believed to have died while another 20 were accepted by Malta Saturday after being rescued by an Icelandic deep-sea trawler which defied the Maltese army's orders to take them to Libya. The immigrants, made up of Eritreans, Ethiopians, Nigerians and a Somali man were brought to Malta Saturday morning along with the body of a 21-year old woman who was stretchered off the patrol boat as her grief-stricken sister looked on. The survivors said that 10 other Africans had perished when their boat overturned in rough seas close to the Icelandic trawler Eyborg Friday. The Maltese Armed Forces initially ordered the captain of the trawler to take the immigrants to Libya, since they were picked up from a sinking boat in the North African country's search and rescue waters. Fisherman Raymond Bugeja, however, ignored the army's order and instructed the Eyborg to continue steaming towards Malta, even though he was threatened with arrest. Following contacts between the Icelandic and Maltese governments, the army decided to send a patrol boat which happened to be participating in the EU border patrol agency's operations in the Mediterranean, DPA reported. Hundreds of African immigrants are believed to have died in the strait between Malta and Libya during the past month, as they try to reach mainland Europe.
