A statement by the Armed Forces said that the boat was spotted 88 nautical miles south of Malta by a fishing trawler at 6pm on Thursday.

The boat was intercepted by an AFM patrol boat 26 miles south of Malta at 4am yesterday. When the migrants were spoken to, they refused to enter Malta, saying they wanted to proceed north. Some time later, 97 of them requested to be taken to land.

The boat, still carrying migrants, continued on its way to Italy, while the 97 immigrants were brought ashore.

In another development, two illegal immigrants who had been on the run after landing in Malta were apprehended by the police in Blue Grotto Avenue, Zurrieq, yesterday morning.

The two men, who claim they are Egyptian, had arrived in a group of 16 illegal immigrants who were caught by the police in Wied iz-Zurrieq, Safi and Kirkop on Thursday, a police report said.

In another statement, the police said that a group of a further 20 illegal immigrants were brought in to Haywharf late on Thursday evening.

The group was made up of 14 men, three women, two girls and a boy. Twelve of them claim they are from Congo, four from Nigeria and one each from Liberia, Somalia, Sudan and Palestine.