Another 26 irregular immigrants were rescued by the Armed Forces of Malta late on Tuesday evening.

An AFM statement said that at around 4pm on Tuesday, Italian authorities informed AFM Operations Room that an Italian Navy aircraft had spotted a small six-metre wooden boat with a number of irregular migrants on board.

The boat was reported to be stationary and drifting at a southerly position, 53 nautical miles south of Delimara.

An AFM Patrol Craft P52 was sent to the area to assist the migrants while an AFM Islander aircraft was tasked to patrol the area. After a three-hour passage, the P52 located the boat and 27 irregular migrants were taken on board.

The migrants were disembarked at the AFM Maritime Base at Haywharf and were handed over to the police for further investigation.

The police later said that 24 of the illgrants are from Sudan, one from Eritrea and one from Palestine.