The Armed Forces of Malta rescued 99 migrants in multiple rescue operations on Saturday. 

The migrants were brought to Malta by an AFM vessel and disembarked at Hay Wharf at around 12.45pm, while further rescue operations are still ongoing, the army said in a statement. 

The group includes 79 men and six women, as well as 14 minors, a police spokesman said. 

Meanwhile, the rescue NGO Sea Watch criticised the AFM for a "dangerous delay" in the rescue operation, which it said "could have killed people".

The NGO said it had been notified on Friday night about the precise position of a boat in distress, and that although Maltese authorities said they would take over, its rescue ship had decided to change course towards the boat's last known position.

"It took us 8 hours to arrive at the scene, where we started to hand out life vests to everyone," Sea Watch said on Twitter. "The passengers who had been at sea for days told us they had seen two ships passing & ignoring them. We realized there was an Armed Forces Malta ship standing by for 3 hours already."

The AFM embarkation took a further two hours, the NGO claimed. 

"This dangerous behaviour we witnessed in the middle of the night is even worse knowing there are numerous maritime distress cases in the Mediterranean this week. There is no time to waste."

The NGO also said the AFM had not taken on board any other survivors from its ship, and that all the people rescued in three separate operations on Thursday and Friday - including some within the Maltese search-and-rescue zone - remained on board awaiting a port of safety in Europe.