Four African migrants were rescued by the fishing vessel MV Budafel early Wednesday, June 20, about 75 nautical miles south of Malta. The four men, one from the Ivory Coast and three from Mali, were on board a boat carrying 26 migrants that capsized Tuesday, June 19, around sunset. Only one of the survivors was brought aboard the Budafel while the other three clung to the vessel’s tuna pen.

An Armed Forces of Malta (AFM) Air Wing Islander aircraft was immediately sent out to look for other survivors, but did not find anything. However, en route to pick up the four survivors from the Budafel, an AFM P-52 Protector Class patrol boat did recover one decomposed body 60 nautical miles from Malta. Though this corpse is believed to be from another group of illegal immigrants, an Italian Military Mission aircraft did spot four bodies assumed to be from the group of 26 immigrants in the sea about 55 nautical miles southwest of Malta on Friday, June 22.

The four survivors were brought to Haywharf Base, the AFM’s patrol boat depot, where they received first aid. They were then handed over to Malta’s Immigration Police Section and, more specifically, Immigration Police Section’s Inspector Geoffrey Azzopardi. When MarEx went online, further police investigations into the tragedy were still ongoing.

This tragedy is just one of many migrant casualties that have occurred near Malta in the past few months. Last month, the same fishing vessel, the Budafel, did not allow 27 stranded Africans on board, but instead kept them hanging onto the fishing nets for three days and nights. This event, along with others, sparked international outrage and caused United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis to ask Mediterranean nations to coordinate their migrant rescue operations, at a press conference at the Palais des Nations in Geneva on Friday, June 1: “The need for assistance to people in distress at sea should remain the first priority.”