Late last night, three Armed Forces of Malta (AFM) patrol vessels rescued a group of 83 persons from onboard a 10-metre long rubber dinghy which began taking in water, from a position some 31 nautical miles (NM) South of Malta. The AFM’s Rescue and Coordination Centre (RCC-Malta) at Luqa Barracks, was alerted earlier on Friday about the boat and subsequently, the AFM Air Wing’s King Air Maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) was also scrambled into the air and conducted a search for the reported dinghy in the area. The AFM