They came from Tunisia and Libya during the night: around 700 migrants reached the island of Lampedusa in more than a dozen boats. According to the authorities, the number of refugees has recently more than doubled.
Hundreds of migrants in boats have once again reached the Italian Mediterranean island of Lampedusa. As reported by the Italian news agency Ansa, almost 700 people arrived on the island. A total of 14 landings were registered.
The boats either arrived at the port without help or the people had to be rescued from the island. The day before, more than 1,200 people had already arrived – almost 2,000 migrants had reached Lampedusa since Wednesday.
Reception camp crowded on Lampedusa
Ten of the 14 boats from last night started from the Tunisian coastal town of Sfax, Ansa reported. Another from Kerkenna, also in Tunisia, and three others set out from Libya.
The people were taken to a reception center on the island. According to Ansa, the migrant camp, which has space for around 400 people, is now overcrowded with more than 2,000 people.
Already 61,200 boat migrants registered
Lampedusa is located between Sicily and North Africa, the island is almost 190 kilometers away from Sfax. Many people keep trying to get to Lampedusa, Malta, Sicily or the Italian mainland by boat from Tunisia and Libya via the central Mediterranean.
The Ministry of the Interior in Rome counted more than 61,200 people who reached Italy on boats this year – in the same period last year there were around 27,300. When people try to get to Europe via the Mediterranean, there are sometimes devastating boat accidents. About two weeks ago, hundreds of migrants who wanted to cross from Libya to Italy drowned off the coast of Greece.