While heading to shelter in the Mediterranean due to bad weather, MSF’s rescue ship the Geo Barents received the distress signal, the charity tweeted.
The Geo Barents finally reached the boat at 4:00 am Tuesday “after more than 10 hours of navigation in a stormy sea,” MSF said.
“Unfortunately, the weather did not allow our team to directly perform the rescue, which could have endangered the lives of the people and those of the MSF team,” it said.
But by early afternoon, the Geo Barents was able to launch its speed boats to the vessel, MSF tweeted along with photos showing the deck of the blue and white boat packed with people wearing life jackets.
“After more than 11 hours of operation, the rescue is now over and a total of 440 people, including 8 women and 30 children, are now safely aboard GeoBarents and being cared for by the team,” the charity tweeted.
The Geo Barents was detained by Italian authorities in February for allegedly breaking new government rules on life-saving missions in the Mediterranean.
The charity said it had been accused of failing to share information, including voyage data recorder information on the position and movement of the ship.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, took office in October after promising to curb the number of migrants landing in Italy.
The new law obliges charity ships to only perform one rescue at a time.
Critics say it increases the risk of deaths in the central Mediterranean, which is the most perilous crossing in the world.
Italy’s geographical position makes it a prime destination for asylum seekers crossing from North Africa to Europe, and Rome has long complained about the number of arrivals.
Charities only rescue a small percentage of those brought ashore, with most saved by coast guard or navy vessels.
But the Italian government accuses charity ships of acting as a pull factor and encouraging people traffickers.A vessel with around 400 people on board is adrift between Malta and Libya and is taking on water, support service Alarm Phone said on Sunday, amid 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, last night and that they had informed authorities. But no rescue operation has been launched so far, they added.
Alarm Phone said people on board were panicking, with several of them requiring medical attention.
The vessel was out of fuel and its lower deck was full of water, while the captain had left and there was nobody who could steer the boat, they added.
Alarm Phone said the boat was now in the Maltese Search and Rescue area or SAR.
It was not immediately possible to reach Maltese authorities.
German NGO Sea-Watch International said on its Twitter account that on Sunday it was carrying out searches of boats in distress in the Mediterranean Sea, including the one flagged by Alarm Phone.
Another NGO, Germany’s Resqship, said on Sunday at least 23 migrants died the previous night in the Mediterranean in a separate shipwreck.
They said on Twitter they found 25 people in the water during a rescue operation, and that they were able to recover 22 survivors and two bodies.
But Resqship added their crew was told about 20 other people had already drowned.
Last week 440 migrants were rescued off Malta after a complex 11-hour operation in stormy seas by the Geo Barents vessel of the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) charity, while at least 23 African migrants were missing and four died on Saturday after their two boats sank off Tunisia as they tried to reach Italy.
