More than 100 irregular migrants came in aboard a large, white dinghy at Delimara yesterday evening, filling the boat from end to end.

According to initial police figures there were 86 men, 16 women and 10 children aboard, including a newborn baby.

Sources said a family of three boys, a girl and their mother and father were taken to hospital in an ambulance, with the children suffering from dehydration.

Another ambulance came for a 17-day-old baby and its mother, along with two other women, one of whom was pregnant.

The police did not release details of the migrants’ nationalities.

The boat was accompanied by two civilian vessels as it approached the shore behind the power station.

An Armed Forces of Malta vessel showed up soon afterwards.

People fishing and having barbecues watched as the dinghy came in and its occupants scrambled ashore with the help of the police.

As the boat was nearly empty one man fell into the sea and was helped ashore by a fellow migrant.

At the same time, the AFM were monitoring another group of migrants some 30 nautical miles south of Malta, sources said.

July marked a record month for the number of irregular immigrant arrivals in Malta, with 880.

It was reported that three women died during a crossing to Lampedusa in the past few days, part of a group of 90 Somalis who landed on the Italian island yesterday afternoon after being rescued by a merchant ship.