A vessel with around 400 people on board is adrift between Greece and Malta and is taking on water, support service Alarm Phone said on Sunday (9 April), after a sharp rise of migrant boats crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa.

Alarm Phone said on Twitter they had received a call from the boat, which departed from Tobruk, in Libya, overnight and that they had informed authorities. But authorities had not launched a rescue operation so far, they added.

Alarm Phone said the boat was now in the Maltese Search and Rescue area (SAR).