Around 80 irregular immigrants escaped yesterday from the detention centre in Safi and made their way to the Malta International Airport where they protested outside the departures building.
All the immigrants were eventually rounded up by Armed Forces of Malta personnel.
No injuries were reported, however a fence at the centre and a new army van used to transport the immigrants back to the barracks were damaged, the AFM said.
It added that at around 2.15pm, some 80 irregular migrants accommodated at the B Block Safi Barracks broke out of their accommodation by smashing through the perimeter fence. They then walked briskly to the main gate of the barracks some 400 metres away.
All personnel were deployed to block their progress and prevent them from leaving the barracks, the AFM said.
The AFM added that around 20 immigrants were arrested before they could reach the main gate, while the rest managed to leave, heading for the Kirkop tunnel. Another 10 were arrested there.
The remaining 50 immigrants managed to reach the departure building at Malta International Airport but found their way blocked by AFM and security personnel.
The immigrants complained that they had been in detention for too long.
Their protest was short-lived because the AFM, backed up by the police, quickly escorted the immigrants back to the detention centre.
The presence of police and the army was also beefed up after reports that the situation inside the detention centre was unstable.
In the meantime, it was discovered that one immigrant was missing, having probably taken advantage of the situation. The AFM later said that this immigrant had also been caught.
Meanwhile, the AFM said that search and rescue efforts to locate the nine people still missing after their boat sank on Friday 3 March continued yesterday with no success.
Due to adverse weather conditions, no AFM surface and air assets were deployed and only land patrols in the northern area of Malta were carried out.
The AFM said it had spent around 60 hours carrying out searches for the missing people.