Updated | MP regrets premature announcement

Updated at 3:17pm.

The death of Peter Serracino Inglott, 76, was inadvertently announced during a meeting of the parliamentary committee for the recodification of laws by Nationalist MP Franco Debono.

But despite the one-minute silence held in committee for the former rector of the University of Malta, Serracino Inglott's brother has denied his death. Family sources have told MaltaToday that Serracino Inglott is in a critical condition. 

Prayers were called for the philosophy professor who is in critical condition in hospital after being admitted last month.

A one-minute silence was observed in the parliamentary committee on the re-codification of laws, chaired by Franco Debono, who announced the passing away of the respected intellectual.

Franco Debono told MaltaToday that he was erroneously informed of Serracino Inglott's death after recieving an SMS from a person who is very close to Serracino Inglott and made the immediate announcement "out of deep respect for the man." Debono added that he regrets any inconvenience he might have caused.

Peter Serracino Inglott was born in 1936 and studied at Oxford University. He worked as an academic for most of his life and was also an influential figure within the Nationalist Party, especially under the helm of Eddie Fenech Adami, to whom he was a close advisor.