(Updates location where immigrants were found)

A group of 84 Somali immigrants were rescued by the Armed Forces of Malta in the early hours. They are expected in Malta later this morning.

The AFM said the immigrants - 53 men, 29 women and two children, were in distress in inclement weather and were rescued by its patrol boat. Four of the women are pregnant.

The AFM received reports that a group of migrants were drifting at sea at around 5 p.m. yesterday from the local UNHCR representative offices in Malta.

UNHCR had been informed of the migrants by the local Jesuit Refugee Service which had been given the information through a Somali source on the Island.

The army successfully made satellite-phone contact with the migrants and a preliminary aerial search was launched by its aircraft. This was unsuccessful. Simultaneously, a patrol boat left for the migrants' last reported location.

The AFM located the immigrants at around 10 p.m. They were on a 10-metre grey dinghy 57 nautical miles south of Malta and 75 nautical miles off Lampedusa. They were not wearing lifejackets and the dinghy was taking in water.