An island hailed as the most beautiful in the Mediterranean is now a rat-infested, litter-strewn “disaster” zone in need of urgent intervention, campaigners say.

Comino, a tiny limestone outcrop off the coast of Malta, is famed for its turquoise waters, white sand and an idyllic swimming spot known as the Blue Lagoon.

But like many parts of the Mediterranean, from the Balearics and Dubrovnik to Santorini and Mykonos, the island is buckling under extreme levels of overtourism.

Its popularity has been turbocharged by social media, with its translucent cyan shallows proving irresistible to Instagram aficionados.