CAIRO (Xinhua) -- An Egyptian transport company announced (Tuesday) that one of its ships had rescued 60 illegal immigrants of Arab nationalities from drowning in the Mediterranean.

The Holding Company for Maritime and Land Transport, affiliated to the Egyptian Ministry of Transport, stated in a statement published by the ministry on its official Facebook page that “while the ship (Wadi Karnak) owned by the National Navigation Company, one of the Holding Companies for Maritime and Land Transport, was sailing from the port of Safaga (the Egyptian) to the port of Dunkirk, France, to transport a shipment of wheat to Egypt. The company received a signal from the American Protection and Indemnity Club that there were distress signals from a boat in the ship’s sailing area.

The statement added, "The company's management issued immediate instructions to the ship's captain to change the route and take all necessary measures to save the boat. Accordingly, the ship's destination was changed by 40 nautical miles and sailed for five hours in the direction of the aforementioned boat area. The ship communicated with the boat, approached it and attached it to an object." The ship and supplying its passengers with all their needs of food, water and medicines.

He pointed out that "the ship communicated with the Search and Rescue Center in Malta as the nearest rescue site, and coordination was made to keep the boat in its position attached to the ship, but with the intensification of the waves and the entry of water into the boat, the boat passengers were instructed to board the ship's deck in order to preserve their lives."

The statement indicated that the ship arrived with the migrants on board yesterday evening in Malta, where "all the individuals were safely disembarked and all of them were reassured."

The immigrants are 24 men, 12 women and 24 children, including 4 infants, and they hold the nationalities of Syria, Lebanon and Palestine, according to the statement.

These migrants had set off from Lebanon on an illegal immigration boat bound for Europe, and had been at sea for a week before being rescued.