CIVILIAN rescuers reached a refugee boat in the central Mediterranean on Tuesday night that had been adrift for over a week since leaving Lebanon.

The search-and-rescue organisation SOS Humanity announced yesterday morning that the crew of its ship, Humanity 1, had located the boat on Tuesday evening and brought everyone aboard.

The charity confirmed that there were 207 people aboard the boat, not 250 as one of the passengers had estimated when speaking to the activist-run distress hotline organisation Alarm Phone on Monday.