WORLD
Lampedusa remains under strain as migrant arrivals continue
Baku, July 22, AZERTAC
Reception capacity on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa remained under strain on Saturday morning following the arrival of 266 migrants and refugees since midnight, according to ANSA.
Coast guard and finance police patrol boats intervened in support of seven boats including one carrying nine Tunisians of whom seven were pregnant women.
The other boats carried between 21 and 49 people.
On Friday a total of 936 migrants and refugees arrived in 28 boats on the tiny stepping-stone island that is closer to north Africa than it is to Europe.
As of 9 am local time there were 2,501 people in the hotspot against an official capacity of around 400.
Of the total, 1,034 were reported to be minors.
A group of 760 people were due to be transferred off Lampedusa to Porto Empedocle on mainland Sicily later on Saturday.
On Friday in total of 1,244 migrants and refugees were transferred off the island by a combination of passenger ferry, finance police patrol boat and the naval vessel Cassiopea.
The Cassiopea docked in Reggio Calabria on Saturday morning.