ROME

In its ship the GeoBarents, French-based humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) rescued 440 migrants in the Mediterranean, near the island nation of Malta.

The MSF on Twitter said on Tuesday: "Yesterday, the #GeoBarents headed north to shelter due to bad weather conditions. While on its way, our ship received a distress alert by the @alarm_phone and changed its course to render assistance. About 500 lives were at risk in international waters off #Malta."

The group added that the boat in distress was reached "this morning, at 4 am, after more than 10 hours of navigation in a stormy sea."

"After more than 11 hours of operation, the rescue is now over and a total of 440 people, including 8 women and 30 children, are now safely aboard #GeoBarents and being cared for by the team," the group explained.

The Mediterranean Sea is an important route for irregular migration flow to Europe.

Migrants' boats in distress seeking help are usually rescued by European NGOs instead of European authorities.

Those NGOs often struggle to evacuate the irregular migrants due to EU member states’ refusal to open their safe ports.

Irregular migrants who reach Europe by their own means usually first land on Lampedusa Island, the closest part of Italy to North Africa.

* Writing by Nur Asena Erturk in Ankara