MALTA is refusing to help six babies and over 50 unaccompanied children just 38 miles off its coast reach dry land, despite the fact that many of them were rescued within waters the island nation’s coastguard is responsible for.

The Spanish NGO refugee rescue ship Open Arms saved 265 people from near-certain death in the central Mediterranean between New Year’s Eve and January 2.

Just 20 minutes before the end of last year, the crew rescued 169 soaking-wet people adrift on a wooden boat in Libya’s search-and-rescue (SAR) zone after receiving their GPS position from fellow NGOs Alarm Phone and Pilot Volunteers.