1,300 Migrants Arrive on the Island of Lampedusa in Italy

On Monday, around 1,300 migrants are overcrowding the reception center on the island of Lampedusa, the closest Italian territory to the northern coasts of Africa, following a new wave of boats that arrived in the past 48 hours.

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At least twelve vessels were intercepted last night, with a total of 691 migrants on board. They had departed from Zuwarah in Libya and Sfax in Tunisia. Consequently, the reception center is once again in challenging conditions, as its capacity is only for around 400 people.

The authorities’ program to transfer migrants to other locations has been immediately put into action. Approximately 200 individuals are expected to be embarked on a ferry to Empedocle Port in Sicily, while the Coast Guard vessel Diciotti will relocate another 600 migrants.

This will be the situation that the delegation from the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties will encounter when they begin their visit tomorrow in Lampedusa.

The Open Arms’ tweet reads, “Hundreds of people have been left to die before their eyes. The authorities knew about it many hours before the shipwreck and no one rescued them. Over 100 children and women have drowned, trapped below the deck of this floating coffin. Between 400 and 750 human beings were on board for 5 days and nights, without food or water, until they were adrift. Curiously, the 79 survivors were helped and rescued by a luxury yacht, which did comply with its obligation to help when it saw a ship in danger at sea. Now they declare 3 days of mourning. Pure cynicism. We must continue to protect life and denounce what happens in this immense common grave of invisible people, where the shame of the States also lies. Help us to continue. We need you.”

The mission will be led by its president, Juan Fernando Lopez from Spain, and will also include Pietro Bartolo, who served as the Lampedusa island’s clinic doctor for a long time.

Meanwhile, the Open Arms’ ship is heading to the port of Livorno to disembark 117 migrants rescued in the central Mediterranean. This Spanish NGO denounced that the assigned port is 650 miles away from its current position, while Sicily is much closer at about 250 miles.

“It is a four-day journey, three times further than the nearest safe port in Sicily, which should be, according to international agreements. The suffering always falls on the most vulnerable,” Open Arms lamented.

Far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has chosen to assign distant ports for the disembarkation of rescued migrants, aiming to ease the situation in the reception centers in the south, where they used to be taken before.

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