The NGO Emergency is preparing itself for a difficult night-time rescue in poor weather [Francesco De Scisciolo/Emergency]

Rome, May 24 (RHC)-- About 500 refugees and migrants are onboard a boat in distress in the Mediterranean Sea after departing Libya for Europe, humanitarian organizations say.  Italian NGO Emergency said on Wednesday that the vessel – which has 45 women and 56 children on it, including a baby born overnight at sea – was taking on water.

“It’s a race against time in an attempt to save as many lives as possible,” Albert Mayordomo, head of mission on the Life Support, said in a statement sent to Al Jazeera. “The absence of coordination on the part of the authorities is a grave violation of the law of the sea.”

Emergency said it had contacted Maltese authorities, in line with maritime procedures, but had received no response since Tuesday when the vessel was flagged by Alarm Phone, a non-governmental organisation that relays distress calls from the Mediterranean to emergency services.

Emergency said it also had forwarded a request for assistance to the Italian Maritime Rescue Coordination Center, which responded by saying that the case falls under the mandate of Maltese authorities.  The Maltese coastguard did not respond to Al Jazeera’s requests for comment while Italian authorities declined to comment.

Paolo Fusarini, captain of Life Support, said his crew was preparing for a difficult night-time rescue.  “Weather conditions are not favourable,” he said in a statement sent to Al Jazeera. “We are going towards waves of 1.5 meters that will make the operation more difficult.”

Fusarini said he was not too hopeful of reaching the location in time and feared that many people would drown before Life Support gets there.

On Tuesday, Alarm Phone said local authorities had been informed of the boat’s presence without specifying whether they were Maltese or Italian officials.  Shortly after, German NGO Sea-Watch said it had sent its light observation aircraft, Sea Bird, to locate the vessel.

On Wednesday, Alarm Phone said it had lost contact with the boat.  “We lost contact this morning, after we continuously alerted & updated the authorities in #Malta and #Italy,” it said. “500 people cannot simply disappear!”   Sea-Watch was unable to locate the boat and said in a tweet: “The fact that the Maltese sea rescue coordination center ignored our calls is unacceptable. We demand immediate clarification.”

More than 45,000 migrants and refugees have arrived in Italy over the Mediterranean so far this year, the highest number since 2017.  About 1,090 people are estimated to have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean since January, according to the International Organization for Migration.