25 immigrants brought ashore

An Armed Forces patrol boat yesterday brought 25 illegal immigrants ashore after their small boat was spotted by an Italian vessel drifting 32 miles off the south west. The AFM said three heavily pregnant women were among the 17 men and eight women on...

An Armed Forces patrol boat yesterday brought 25 illegal immigrants ashore after their small boat was spotted by an Italian vessel drifting 32 miles off the south west.

The AFM said three heavily pregnant women were among the 17 men and eight women on board.

The patrol boat came in at Hay Wharf, Valletta at about 7.30 p.m., some six hours after the immigrants' boat was originally sighted.

They all claimed to be of Somali nationality and were handed over to the police for further investigation.

Well over 400 asylum seekers have landed in Malta since the beginning of summer.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.