Migrant families kept at Naxxar trade fair centre

98 migrants rescued on Thursday by the Armed Forces of Malta are being hosted inside the former Trade Fair centre in Naxxar, pending a 72-hour medical clearance.

The government told MaltaToday that the migrants, who are yet to make any asylum claim, are family units.

"In line with government policy not to detain any children, we did not place them in a closed detention centre," a spokesperson for the Prime Minister said.

The migrants were said to have been adamant to stay in the temporary facility at Naxxar, and a decision was taken together with migrants' rights NGOs present.

"The medical clearance takes place over a period of 72 hours, and we are hoping that the migrants are released into an open centre by next Monday. Under current regulations, migrants that are not cleared medically cannot be placed in an open centre," the spokesperson said.

Benefiting from the lull in migrant arrivals in Malta, whose rescue efforts were given respite by the Italian-sponsored Mare Nostrum operation, a new area in the closed Lyster Barracks detention centre was being refurbished.

MaltaToday was told that none of the migrants comes from Ebola-affected regions in Africa. Many of the migrants, who probably departed from Libya, are of Syrian and Palestinian origin.

Police and members of the Agency for the Welfare of Asylum Seekers are currently on site.