At the time, the boat was adrift with no working engine in high seas about 320km north of the Libyan port of Benghazi and more than 400km away from Malta and Italy’s southern island of Sicily. Italian authorities are still searching for the boat.

The Italian coastguard on Thursday reported the rescue of 423 people and 671 people in two separate operations in Italian search and rescue waters, and Alarm Phone said they were unrelated to the missing boat.