More than 270 migrants were brought to Malta on Wednesday after rescue missions by the Armed Forces of Malta, with another 99 men, women and children expected to land later today. 

In total, 370 migrants will touch ground in Malta, making Wednesday one of the busiest days for migrant arrivals in recent history. 

The first of the missions happened during the night when the AFM rescued 63 migrants who were in distress aboard a drifting rubber dinghy.

The boat was within the Maltese Search and Rescue Zone. The men, women and children on board were transferred to the AFM vessel.

A short while later, AFM operators received word of a second group of 210 people in distress at sea and went to their rescue. 

AFM personnel took 61 of those people in distress, placed them aboard the first rescue vessel and brought them to Malta. 

The rest of the rescued people, 147 of them, were picked up later in the morning and reached Malta at around 10.30am.