Valletta, Malta - Five bodies recovered at sea in just over two weeks off Malta remained unidentified Sunday, though police were almost certain they were African immigrants who failed to make it to Europe.

The bodies were all in an advanced state of decomposition, indicating that they had been in the water for some time, police said.

Though the gender of the bodies was confirmed in an autopsy, it was very difficult to establish ethnicity.

The Sunday Times of Malta reported police as saying that it was "99 per cent probable that they were all (would-be illegal) immigrants." The autopsy established they had drowned.

Three of the corpses were female and one of them was wearing a life jacket.

On August 27, eight would-be illegal immigrants rescued by a patrol boat claimed 70 people had been lost at sea during their voyage between Libya and Malta, but searches proved to be in vain.

Hundreds of African immigrants are believed to drown between Libya and Malta and Italy every year as they try to reach Europe, often on board rickety boats.

The EU's sea-border patrols throughout the summer were not enough to stem the human tragedy. (dpa)