Former Prime Minister Dom Mintoff, 95, was yesterday admitted to the Gozo General Hospital suffering from pneumonia.

Mr Mintoff had been staying in Gozo when he started to feel unwell on Monday night. Sources said his condition was serious considering his age but he was receiving treatment.

He was last in hospital in February when he suffered a deterioration of his level of consciousness. He had previously been in and out of hospital for treatment of heart problems and suspected aspiration pneumonia, an infection of the lungs caused by breathing in foreign materials, usually food or liquids, into the lungs.

Last November, he was admitted to the Coronary Care Unit with heart failure and dehydration, just two months after his previous admission in September of last year when he was treated for a light stroke.

Mr Mintoff served as a Prime Minister twice between 1955 and 1958, when Malta was still a British colony, and again, post-Independence, from 1971 to 1984. He was an MP for over 50 years until 1998.