A total of 648 migrants, including 21 women and seven children, arrived in the southwest Sicilian port of Licata on Monday evening, crammed aboard a 30-meter-long fishing boat.

The boat was towed to Licata by Italian coastguards after it was spotted some 18 miles (about 28.8 km) off the Sicilian coastline.

Most of the immigrants, who were in relatively good health, are believed to be from Egypt, local reports said, adding that they had been taken to several Sicilian immigrant holding centers for identification.

According to the reports, the Italian Northern League, an anti-immigrant opposition party, blasted the six-month-old center-left government over the mass landing.

Italian Welfare Minister Paolo Ferrero announced earlier this month that Italy would have a new immigration law, relaxing restrictions adopted by the previous center-right government in 2002.