Thousands of migrants have arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa over the weekend. Despite ferry transfers to Sicily and the Italian mainland, the 'hotspot' first reception center on Lampedusa was at eight times its capacity.
Over the weekend, there were reportedly 3,279 migrants in the first reception center or ‘hotspot’ on the Italian island of Lampedusa. That is eight times over the capacity of the center, reported the European broadcaster Euronews, publishing video footage of hundreds of migrants arriving. The Italian newspaper Fanpage claimed that the reception center had "never been so overcrowded."
More than 2,000 migrants were reported to have arrived in the space of a few days leading up to Friday (June 30). Hundreds more added to those numbers over the weekend.
According to Euronews, the Italian authorities transferred a total of 697 people by ferry to Sicily, but thousands more waited in an already overcrowded reception center, where numerous pictures and videos show arrivals sleeping on the floor, often outside in the courtyard, with only thermal emergency foil blankets for protection.
A few weeks ago, the Italian authorities said they hoped to be able to transfer up to 2,800 a week, but it is not clear if they have made those targets yet or not. Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi is to give a press conference on the island with EU Commissioner Ylva Johansson on Tuesday (July 4). Just a few weeks ago, other EU politicians visited because the center was overcrowded then too.
Continuous arrivals
On June 29, 696 migrants reportedly arrived on 14 different boats, according to the private media channel Mediaset’s TG24 news. The minimum on board one boat was 27 and the maximum 133. Some arrived on the island under their own steam, others were rescued or picked up by the coast guard in coastal waters, or in the Italian search-and-rescue (SAR) zone.
On June 28, 1,292 migrants arrived. At that point, the channel reported that "notwithstanding the continual transfers [to Sicily and the Italian mainland] there are now 2,069 migrants [staying at the hotspot]."
'Boat set off from Sfax'
On Thursday night, one of the boats arriving, with 31 migrants on board, reported that some of their companions had fallen in the water en route and were missing. The boat they were traveling on was picked up by Italy’s tax and border police Guardia di finanza. According to Sky TG24 their rescue in the night meant at the time they were picked up, it was difficult to ascertain how many might be missing.
Witnesses interviewed from the boat told Italian police personnel that they had set off from Sfax in Tunisia in a boat of about seven meters. The police are now investigating what might have happened.
Arrivals in Italy
The Italian Interior Ministry’s latest figures for sea arrivals date from June 30. Since the beginning of the year to June 30, 64,930 migrants arrived on Italy’s shores. June 29 recorded record numbers of arrivals (2,307) preceeded by the second highest numbers for the year so far on June 28 (1,362).
Arrivals in Italy in 2023 have outstripped the equivalent months every month except May so far, when the numbers of arrivals in May 2023 (8,154) were slightly below May 2022 (8,720).
On June 30, the Italian Interior Ministry recorded 3,541 migrants in hotspots in Sicily and a total of 8,931 migrants staying in various different centers on the territory. In April, the Italian government declared a state of emergency related to migration and the numbers of arrivals they were experiencing, saying that Sicily and the south of the country couldn’t cope.
However, according to the Interior Ministry’s latest graphs and maps, 8% of Italy's migrants are in Sicily, with the northern regions of Lombardy (12%) and Emilia Romagna (10%) hosting the greatest numbers.
The majority of those arriving are nationals from Ivory Coast (7,921) with Gunieans (7,155) and Egyptians (7,128) following close behind. Then come nationals from Pakistan (5,943) and Bangladesh (5,910) and then Tunisians (4,318).
The numbers of unaccompanied minors arriving this year stands at 6,833 with figures last updated on June 26. Last year, across the whole year, 14,044 unaccompanied minors arrived, so 2023 looks set to record similar figures if the numbers of arrivals stay steady.