Thirty-two children were among the 84 irregular immigrants who landed in Malta yesterday morning.

One woman was taken to hospital because she had a leg injury while the rest of the migrants, who claimed to be from Somalia, were in “general good health” when they arrived at Haywharf at about 10.30am yesterday, an Armed Forces of Malta spokesman confirmed.

The immigrants, who included 18 women and the 32 children, were intercepted some 88 nautical miles southwest of Malta where their dinghy was taking in water.

They were brought to shore aboard three AFM vessels after a coordinated operation during which two Italian Coast Guard vessels located the dinghy adrift at about 3.40am.

Underneath the luminous orange life vests, the immigrants wore warm clothing.

As they were escorted off the vessels by AFM officers, wearing blue surgical gloves, some migrants were seen after hours sitting down. Some were barefoot or even had mismatched shoes.

This is the second immigrant landing in the matter of weeks.

On March 29, a group of 82 migrants, including 10 women, arrived in Malta after they were rescued from their drifting dinghy.

They too claimed to be of Somali origin.