2023-08-28 02:30:06
The southern Italian island of Lampedusa has been reporting record numbers of migrant arrivals for the past few days. Although the crossing from North Africa via the central Mediterranean to Italy is considered to be particularly dangerous, a particularly large number of people dare to take this route.
Sunday morning, more than 4,200 people were counted in the initial reception center on Lampedusa, including almost 250 unaccompanied minors. According to the Italian news agency ANSA, 65 boats with a total of 1,918 migrants reached the island on Friday alone – a record. On Saturday there were 1798 in 45 boats.
Most were picked up at sea and brought ashore by Coast Guard vessels, Financial Police vessels and Carabinieri vessels. Some reached the island on their own. Civil sea rescuers are also involved: The “Humanity 1” of the German association SOS Humanity brought 57 previously rescued people to Livorno on Sunday. The migrants are all men – most of them are from Bangladesh.
The current occupancy on Lampedusa is ten times the official capacity. In order to relieve the camp, the authorities are trying to bring as many people as possible to the mainland using ferries and police ships. There they are to be distributed to other camps.
107,530 arrivals
Lampedusa is located between Sicily and North Africa, the island is almost 190 kilometers away from the Tunisian coastal town of Sfax. The Interior Ministry in Rome counted 107,530 people this year (as of August 25) who reached Italy by boat. In all of last year there were 52,954.
Most of the migrants who have arrived come from Guinea, Ivory Coast and Tunisia. Again and once more there are devastating boat accidents during the crossings.
168 migrants also arrived in the port of the southern Italian city of Brindisi on Sunday. A few days earlier, they were rescued off the Libyan coast by the Doctors Without Borders ship Geo Barents. There were also 110 unaccompanied minors on board. They come from Senegal, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Northern Sudan, Mali, Ivory Coast, Guinea and Cameroon. Authorities said they are in good health.
According to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s plans, more asylum seekers are to be resettled in areas that are large but have a low population density. The government wants to avoid a large concentration in a few refugee facilities and in large cities. There is resistance, especially in northern Italy.
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