Migrants flee second Sicilian quarantine

ROME: Dozens of migrants escaped quarantine in Sicily Monday, a day after nearly 200 others fled a separate holding facility as Italy prepared a navy ship to house arriving migrants.

Hundreds continue to arrive daily in southern Italy, especially on the islands of Lampedusa and Sicily, and exasperated local mayors have said they cannot keep up given lingering coronavirus concerns.

On Monday, dozens of migrants slipped out of a windowless tent set up by a civil protection unit in Porto Empedocle on Sicily’s western coast.

The migrants had been sent there to sit out a 14-day quarantine after arriving in the country.

The tent, set up to accomodate 100 people, was packed with more than 500 migrants, news media reported.

The interior ministry said in a statement that most of the migrants had been found, and none of those tested so far were carrying the coronavirus.

Earlier, Porto Empedocle Mayor Ida Carmina – who has previously said the presence of migrants could undermine the tourism sector – decried inhumane conditions and called on the government and European Commission to intervene.

On Facebook, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said it was “inconceivable” that anyone would flout quarantine rules.

“Migrants or not, if they were Italian, I would have said the same thing. This is a public health issue here. The virus hasn’t disappeared,” Di Maio wrote on Facebook.