More than half the illegal immigrants who reached Malta last year were rescued by the Armed Forces in dozens of rescue operations, the army said yesterday in reaction to comments made by the Italian ambassador.

The AFM said Paolo Andrea Trabalza was incorrect when he said in an interview with The Sunday Times last week that only Italian boats had rescued people in Malta's search and rescue (SAR) region.

Mr Trabalza had said that while is the duty of a country managing an SAR region to coordinate, he expected countries to intervene rather than "sit at a desk and order others about", in a veiled attack on Malta.

Irked by the statement, the AFM said it had rescued 797 of the 1,475 illegal immigrants who reached Malta last year and coordinated 347 rescue operations.

The AFM said that the army's primary responsibility was to coordinate rescue operations, which it described as "quite rigorous in nature and usually proceed through a sequence of different stages".

When the rescue coordination centre was notified of an actual or potential incident, its first step was to establish its position and whether it fell within the Maltese SAR region.

The position was a critical factor in the system as it would affect the response effort and the disembarkation of those who were rescued, the AFM said.

"However, situations may sometimes arise where, although incidents take place within the region, they would be geographically closer to a neighbouring country. In that case, the centre would call upon that State to either assist with the rescue effort or else allow the disembarkation of those rescued," the AFM said.

"The success of the operations, in fact, is often critical to the tempo in which these are carried out."

AFM Commander Brigadier Martin Xuereb said Malta's track record in relation to SAR was optimal since the country has consistently interpreted and fulfilled its international obligations in this regard.

"People in distress have been rescued and escorted to the nearest safe port in accordance with the pertinent obligations," the Brigadier said.