2,100 IN 24 HOURS
ITALIAN ISLAND RECEIVES 19 BOATS FILLED WITH MIGRANTS AS SEA CROSSINGS RESUME
MORE than 2,100 migrants have landed on an Italian island within 24 hours.
Four boats carrying 635 people were met by the coast guard at Lampedusa just before dawn yesterday, after 15 vessels had brought more than 1,400, including children, on Sunday.
Many had to sleep on mattresses outdoors as the island’s migrant housing centre, which had been empty, soon filled up. Hundreds more were being transferred to an unused passenger ferry offshore for quarantine until they can be tested for Covid-19.
Human traffickers often take advantage of calm seas to launch unseaworthy boats towards European shores.
Sunday’s tally of arrivals was the biggest daily influx at any Italian port so far this year. The migrants came in a steady stream of boats to Lampedusa, which is nearer northern Africa than the Italian mainland. Its mayor Toto Martello appealed for government help, saying: ‘Arrivals are resuming alongside good weather.’
Matteo Salvini, the right-wing anti-migrant leader whose party is part of PM Mario Draghi’s coalition, tweeted: ‘With millions of Italians facing difficulties, we cannot care for thousands of illegal migrants.’
Giorgia Meloni, a far-right opposition leader, called for a naval blockade to thwart Libya-based traffickers.
In past years, more than 100,000 people, many fleeing poverty in Africa or Asia, have been plucked to safety from unseaworthy boats. Last month, 130 died when a rubber dinghy deflated.
Italy has called on other EU nations to take in more migrants.