A group of 84 migrants - 51 men, 32 women and a girl - has been brought to Malta after having been rescued from a sinking dinghy.

The dinghy was detected in the morning as it headed North. A patrol boat crew initially determined that the boat was not in distress.

The patrol boat shadowed the dinghy and at one point it was noted that the dinghy was taking in water.

This together with an increasing swell (South Easterly Wind Force 3 to 4) aggravated the situation and the migrants, who claimed they were Somali, were transferred to the patrol boat and brought to Malta during the night.

The AFM on Wednesday also intercepted another migrants' boat near Malta. Three women and a baby were transferred to a patrol boat for medical care in Malta but the remaining 40 migrants refused rescue and continued to head North towards Sicily.

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