Updated at 6.40am on Thursday
Two AFM patrol boats and a helicopter on Wednesday afternoon intercepted a small boat packed with migrants some two miles off Għar Hasan on the south-west coast of Malta.
The boat was carrying 35 people. Some could be seen on top of the boat's cabin.
The migrants were transferred onto one of the AFM vessels and the migrants' boat was then taken in tow, heading for the AFM maritime base at Hay Wharf.
On Monday an AFM patrol boat rescued 114 migrants after coming across their sinking dinghy some 53 miles south of Malta.