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ROME — Italian authorities scrambled on Sunday to alleviate overcrowding in shelters after scores of boats carrying a complete of about 1,000 migrants reached Italy’s southern shores and two of its tiny islands over the weekend.
Almost 50 boats arrived between Friday night time and Saturday on Lampedusa island off Sicily, in line with state radio and different Italian media. Different boats carrying migrants reached Pantelleria, one other tiny island favored by vacationers.
A whole bunch of migrants stepped ashore from the digital flotilla of smugglers’ vessels on these islands. A number of of the vessels launched by migrant smugglers held as few as eight passengers. However others had round 100 passengers aboard, a lot of them from Tunisia, in line with the experiences.
Different boats reached the shores of the Italian mainland on Saturday, both unaided or assisted by Italian coast guard vessels.
The Italian information company ANSA stated that 92 migrants, most of them from Afghanistan, reached Puglia — the “heel” of the boot-shaped peninsula — in a sailboat on Saturday. Nonetheless different migrants sailed to Calabria within the “toe” of the peninsula, whereas different boats reached Sicily and Sardinia, Italy’s two largest islands, within the final two days.
On Sardinia, Carabinieri paramilitary police noticed 29 migrants strolling alongside a street, ANSA stated.
The humanitarian group Medical doctors With out Borders tweeted that one among its rescue ships, Geo Barents, saved 25 migrants, together with 5 minors, from a small boat in misery in worldwide waters close to Libya on Saturday night time. Geo Barents already had different migrants overseas plucked to security in different rescue operations, the group stated.
With the disembarkation of a whole bunch of migrants from boats within the final days, the residence quickly housing rescued migrants on Lampedusa rapidly grew to become overcrowded. Corriere della Sera stated the residence housed 1,500 asylum-seekers, almost 4 instances its capability.
Inside ministry authorities organized for a industrial passenger ferry to sail from Sicily to Lampedusa, the place it was anticipated to reach on Sunday night time, embark 250 migrants and take them to Sicilian migrant residences to minimize crowding on the tiny island’s facility.
Whereas a whole bunch of hundreds of migrants have set sail from Libyan shores aboard smugglers’ boats within the final a long time, many additionally set out from Tunisia.
Italian media famous the Tunisian coast guard had thwarted no less than a rating of makes an attempt by vessels full of migrants to go towards Italy and rescued many others from boats in misery on Friday and Saturday.
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Comply with AP’s protection of migration points at https://apnews.com/hub/migration
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