A 23-year-old irregular immigrant, said to be an Egyptian national, tragically lost his life after he drowned a few metres from shore beneath the Ghar Lapsi reverse osmosis plant yesterday morning.

An employee at the plant told The Malta Independent that some workers had spotted a small boat with 20 immigrants on board a few metres off the cliffs beneath the plant at around 6.30am.

The immigrants were then seen jumping off the boat and swimming towards the shore – presumably with the intention of scaling the cliffs once they reached the land. The Egyptian who drowned apparently could not swim and was in difficulties immediately after jumping off the boat.

Some of the immigrants who made it to shore ran off in the immediate area but were soon apprehended by the police. However, the man’s brother remained at the scene and pleaded with the workers at the plant to help the man in difficulty.

The man could not be seen because of the rough seas and the Armed Forces were called in to help the police in their search. A patrol boat arrived at the scene with a crew of divers at around 10am, while the helicopter hovered overhead with the man’s brother on board, indicating where he had last seen him.

The body was spotted almost immediately at the bottom of an area earmarked by the man’s brother. It was brought to the surface and carried by the helicopter to the plant’s yard just inside the entrance, as the employees looked on in concern. Information is still sketchy but its appears that the boat probably left Libya a week ago and was supposedly heading for Italy when it was decided to stop in Malta because of the bad weather. The people on board the boat are said to be a mix of Pakistani, Palestinian and Egyptian nationals.

An investigation is being carried out by the immigration police.

(See also Hundreds of illegal immigrants land on Italian coasts on back page)