Forty asylum seekers on board a boat in Malta's search and rescue zone is in desperate need of rescuing, an emergency rescue hotline said on Saturday. Alarm Phone said the group had run out of food and water and urged the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM) "to do its duty and rescue them". "We spoke to the group in distress again! They are in Maltese SAR zone. They tell us, they don't have any water or food and are really exhausted," the NGO tweeted. This week Alarm Phone flagged a number of other boats in distress in Malta's SAR zone. Out of the four, two were rescued, one disappeared, and one other carrying 45 people is still in need of rescuing. Times of Malta tried to contact AFM, but was unable to get through.