Malta sent a strongly-worded diplomatic message to Italy yesterday urging it to stop reneging on its international obligations after the neighbouring country refused to take in 66 migrants rescued near Lampedusa on Thursday.

A note verbale, sent directly to the Italian Foreign Ministry in the morning, was followed by a meeting between Foreign Affairs Minister Tonio Borg and the Italian Ambassador to Malta, Paolo Andrea Trabalza.

The communication asks Italy to accept the immigrants.

After the meeting, Dr Borg said that Italy's logic was not "credible or acceptable". Malta insisted that migrants rescued in its search and rescue area should be taken to the nearest safe port, in this case Lampedusa. But Italy has been arguing that Lampedusa is not a safe port and, therefore, they should remain in Malta.

The Times tried to speak to Mr Trabalza but he would not comment, saying only: "Have a nice feast".

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi referred to the matter briefly during a political conference yesterday.

He said Malta would continue doing what was morally, ethically and legally correct and fight "tooth and nail" for its rights.

The escalation of diplomatic tensions between the two countries comes after two Italian vessels on Thursday warded off a Maltese patrol boat that was headed to Lampedusa after rescuing the migrants from a dinghy 25 nautical miles off the Italian island.

They were eventually landed in Malta on Thursday night.

The Maltese patrol boat went for the migrants because Italy had initially said it had no vessels available to do the job.

Malta also addressed this point in its communication with Italy and said it was not possible for the Italian authorities to say they had no assets for rescue but then send two vessels to stop a patrol boat from entering Lampedusa.

This was the second dispute in as many weeks, after 140 migrants rescued by a Turkish cargo ship were refused entry even though they were closer to Lampedusa than Malta.

Italy eventually relented and the migrants were landed in Agrigento, Sicily but only after a four-day stand-off between the two countries.

Italian and Maltese ministers subsequently met in Brussels to discuss the issue but reportedly held firm to their positions.