Seventy-seven migrants, including nine women, three of whom are pregnant, were rescued by the Armed Forces of Malta yesterday.

The migrants were picked up by the AFM’s offshore patrol vessel in a rescue operation that had started the previous night.

The alarm was raised by Rome’s rescue centre, which received a satellite phone call on Monday evening reporting that the dinghy was 80 nautical miles off Malta.

All 77 were in reasonable health and were transferred on to the AFM vessel and escorted to Maltese shores.

A group of 107 migrants also arrived in Lampedusa yesterday.

Meanwhile, three Somali families left Malta yesterday to start a new life in Ireland as part of the refugee relocation programme.

Staff from the Irish Department of Justice and Equality met the group of 10 who will stay in a reception centre with other recently arrived and resettled refugees and asylum seekers.

They will move to new homes after completing a short orientation programme.

In all 1,753 refugees and beneficiaries of international protection have been relocated or resettled from Malta to various developed countries since 2005 – 363 of these since the beginning of this year.