An AFM report said that at 12.50pm, the Luqa Rescue Centre received a fax from Rome saying that an Italian Armed Forces Atlantique maritime patrol aircraft had sighted a boat heading towards Malta.

At the time, the boat was at a distance of 26 nautical miles south of the islands. An AFM Islander Aircraft, AS19, was dispatched to locate the boat, and a sighting was made just after 2pm. Patrol boats, Melita 2 and P24, arrived on location and started taking the migrants on board.

When boarding was complete at 3.45pm, P24, complete with the migrants and their boat on tow, proceeded to Maritime Squadron Headquarters at Valletta. The migrants will be handed over to the Malta Police for investigation, and afterwards they will be distributed between the local migrant holding centres.

The migrants declared themselves as Congolese, and consisted of 21 adult males, 4 women, one of whom is pregnant, and a boy.