Migrants and refugees are continuing to arrive in the southern Italian region of Calabria. A group of 86 people landed in the Calabrian port city of Roccella Ionica in the evening of Tuesday, June 6 while the following night 174 people reached Crotone, also on the Calabrian coast, in two separate landings.
Migrant landings are continuing in Calabria with an uptick in arrivals recorded over the past few days in Roccella Ionica and Crotone.
Dozens of migrants and refugees were rescued by the Italian coast guard that intercepted two boats adrift in the Mediterranean. There were a number of unaccompanied minors among those rescued.
A reported 86 migrants were taken to the port of Roccella Ionica on June 6 by two coast guard vessels. The migrants, all male, included a few unaccompanied minors. They were intercepted some 70 miles off the coast aboard two fishing vessels.
The people who reached Roccella were mainly Egyptian and Syrian nationals, while a few were Indian citizens. They were reported to be in good physical condition. The two fishing vessels on which they were traveling had departed from the port of Tobruch, in Libya, a few days prior to their arrival.
Roccella Ionica
Overall, 16 migrant landings have been recorded in the port of Roccella Ionica so far this year, for a total of some 2,500 people.
On June 5, 74 migrants reached Roccella Ionica after being rescued by the coast guard while they were on board a sailboat adrift some 100 miles off the coast of the Calabrian Locride area. The people rescued mainly hailed from Afghanistan, Syria and Iran. They included 10 minors and 20 women.
All passengers are believed to have departed from the coast of Turkey. On May 27, 95 migrants of various nationalities, including 18 children, arrived in Roccella Ionica.
Rescued boats departed from Libya, Turkey
On June 6, Crotone also recorded the arrival of 48 migrants who were on a sailboat adrift a few miles off the Calabrian coast before being rescued by a coast guard vessel. The majority of passengers, 40, hailed from Iraq; three were Syrians, one was Palestinian and two were citizens of Kazakhstan.
A woman and six minors were among those on board the boat, which is believed to have departed from Turkey. After landing in Crotone, the migrants were taken by personnel from Crotone's chapter of the Italian Red Cross to the hosting center of Isola Capo Rizzuto.
The following day, on June 7, 174 migrants were rescued by the coast guard in two separate operations off the coast of Calabria. They were traveling on two boats: one had departed from Turkey and the other from Libya.
In the first landing, shortly after midnight, 128 people who had departed from Libya on a fishing vessel reached Crotone. The majority (114 people) hailed from Pakistan. Only one passenger was a woman, an Indian citizen, while 11 were unaccompanied minors.
A few hours later, 46 migrants reached the port of Crotone after being rescued from a sailboat that had departed from Turkey. The migrants on board hailed from Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan.The double landings stretched the local hosting system coordinated by the prefecture, with the deployment of personnel from Crotone's immigration office and forensic police from the local precinct. The migrants were taken to the hosting center of Isola Capo Rizzuto.