Updated 7pm

Armed Forces Malta have rescued 45 people, including a pregnant woman, who were on a wooden migrant boat in distress at sea. They arrived in Malta just before 7pm.

Those on board reported that the woman was bleeding and may have lost her unborn child.

A spokeswoman for AFM said the pregnant woman was not in danger.

The NGO Alarm Phone alerted Maltese authorities to the boat, which was at sea for two days.

Photo: Mark Zammit Cordina

In a tweet, earlier on Wednesday,  the NGO Alarm Phone, which takes calls from distressed boats in the Mediterranean, described what they had been told was happening on board.

"'We are at sea for 2 days now. We need water. One pregnant woman is bleeding & maybe lost her child.' This is what the people told us," they tweeted.

"They are so close to Malta - why are they not rescued yet? Malta was informed over 3 hours ago and has verified the distress with a helicopter."

Alarm Phone said the pregnant woman on board needed "rapid medical attention"

This was the second rescue within 24 hours.

Breaking: Wooden boat with 45 people, including several women and children, near #Malta in distress! At 8.59am CEST we were alerted by a group of #migrants who had left from Tripoli in #Libya. At 9.10am we informed the Maltese authorities. #safepassage pic.twitter.com/fQfkm6HaYT

— Alarm Phone (@alarm_phone) September 18, 2019

A group of 90 migrants was landed in Malta late on Tuesday after having been rescued by Italian patrol boats and transferred to a Maltese vessel.

The Maltese government has spoken of pressure on Malta’s migrant reception facilities.

Many of 360 migrants rescued by the NGO rescue ship Ocean Viking and brought to Malta on August 23 are still here, although small groups have left for France.

Several EU countries had committed to take the migrants from Malta. 
Another 162 migrants were rescued by the Maltese armed forces on August 26.
40 were brought in on August 3.