The southern Italian Mediterranean island of Lampedusa is once again confronted with strong migration movements. Since Saturday morning, 21 boats with a total of 945 migrants on board have arrived on the island. The boats had left from Sfax and Zarzis in Tunisia and from Sabratha and Tajoura in Libya.
On board were people from Bangladesh, Egypt, Pakistan, Syria, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Niger and Senegal. The migrants who arrived were housed in the island’s hotspot, where 1,335 people stayed on Sunday. Some of them will be taken to Sicily on Sunday.
15-month-old girl missing
44 migrants, including 11 women and three minors, were rescued off the coast of Lampedusa on Saturday evening after their boat sank. A 15-month-old girl who was traveling with her mother is missing. The baby’s mother fell into the water and was unable to save her child.
A joint operation between the Mare Ionio, a ship owned by the Italian NGO Mediterranea, and an Italian coast guard patrol boat rescued 59 people on Saturday, including two pregnant women who were in difficulty on an overcrowded boat.
28 irregular migration attempts were thwarted
Meanwhile, the Tunisian Coast Guard has thwarted 28 attempts at illegal migration by intercepting 1,178 people on board several boats off the coast of the Sfax region. Most people came from sub-Saharan Africa, with the exception of 18 Tunisians.
The National Guard in Sfax also arrested nine people accused of being involved in human trafficking. 15 metal boats, 25 marine engines and a large quantity of fuel were seized.
Since the beginning of 2024, 9,479 people have arrived in southern Italy after a sea voyage across the Mediterranean Sea. In the comparable period of 2023, there were 20,364, according to the Italian Interior Ministry.
Source: Krone
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