The Phoenix, a 40-metre vessel operated by the first ever privately-funded Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS), on Saturday saved a group of 250 Syrians and Palestinians, including some 40 children.

The Malta-based Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS), tweeted on its Twitter page that the asylum-seekers had been found in distress on a wooden boat south of Malta and the Phoenix, as part of an operation coordinated by Italian authorities, brought them aboard.

The people rescued were taken on board and are currently accommodated on the vessel's deck, awaiting an Italian military vessel to pick them up.

There are currently multiple rescue operations taking place in the area, which is outside Maltese search and rescue zone, according to local report.

The mission is taking place two days after the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM) rescued a group of 250 asylum-seekers from a sinking boat at Malta Search and Rescue region on Thursday morning, the biggest ever arrived in Malta so far this year.

The Phoenix has saved Maltese fisherman and his five-year-old son on the day of its officially launch. Then the Phoenix, equipped with a sickbay, two inflatable fast boats and two remotely-piloted aircraft, set off on the first of a number of missions on Wednesday.

MOAS is an NGO which aims to prevent loss of life at sea by providing aid to migrants crossing the Mediterranean in unsafe boats.

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