130 Migrants Land in Malta

A group of some 130 migrants, including a baby, who were plucked from the sea off the coast of Malta after their dingy deflated, landed safety on the small Mediterranean island on Sunday, its navy said.

They were rescued overnight in an operation involving officials from Italy, Malta and the United States, who were still monitoring 25 boats packed with migrants.

Five of the migrants were airlifted to a Maltese hospital in a U.S. helicopter. Two had been rushed to Malta overnight to receive urgent medical care.

An additional 700 migrants were taken to the Italian island of Lampedusa.

The operation sparked fresh criticism from Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, who said that Europe was "totally absent" when it came to dealing with this flood of refugees.

"Armed Forces of Malta doing a great job with Italia Mare Nostrum and U.S. Navy in joint operation on migration. Europe totally absent," tweeted Muscat.

The Italian Navy has rescued some 3,000 asylum seekers in the past two days.

Most of the migrants and asylum seekers arriving in Italy come from Eritrea or Syria and are departing from Libya. Many also come from impoverished parts of sub-Saharan Africa.

Thousands have died in tragedies at sea in recent years because they often cross in rickety fishing boats that are badly overcrowded to maximize profits for traffickers.