A boat carrying 235 migrants, all from sub-Saharan Africa and fleeing the conflict in Libya, arrived in southern Sicily today, authorities said.

Six of the migrants, who suffered from hypothermia and malnutrition, were taken to a hospital.

The group which included 19 women and five children arrived in Italian waters under Maltese escort after they were spotted yesterday.

(Malta insists all boats have right of transit through Maltese waters and the Maltese authorities do not need to interfere unless the boats are in distress.)

Italian customs, police and coastguard boats had earlier assisted another 159 migrants, also from sub-Saharan Africa, as they neared the Italian island of Pantelleria.

Since the start of the year more than 11,000 African refugees have landed in southern Italy after fleeing the conflict in the north African country, with their numbers increasing after NATO launched its campaign to oust the Kadhafi regime.

Catholic aid group Sant'Egidio said 1,820 African migrants, most from south of the Sahara, had drowned in the Mediterranean since the beginning of the year.