A reported 576 migrants from Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Morocco, Pakistan and Bangladesh landed on Lampedusa after the fishing vessel on which they were travelling was towed to the island's commercial port on November 20. The group was rescued by the coast guard and finance police cutters.

The migrants said their vessel left Zuwarah, in Libya, at around 10 pm local time on Sunday, November 19. Another landing was subsequently recorded with 43 citizens of Gambia, Guinea, Mali and Senegal who had departed from Sfax, in Tunisia, on Sunday night.

768 at Lampedusa hotspot as transfers begin

Before the shipwreck, in which a two-year-old girl died, eight landings had been reported on the island for a total of 372 migrants who had also left from Sfax in Tunisia. Prior to the latest arrivals, the hotspot was hosting 192 people. The 187 who arrived on the first four boats boarded a ferry that reached Porto Empedocle, in Sicily, at dawn on November 21.

According to official data on the morning of Tuesday (November 21), 768 migrants -- including 77 unaccompanied minors -- were staying at the hotspot of Lampedusa from which 187 people on the night of November 20 were transferred to Porto Empedocle after arriving earlier that morning.

At the order of the prefecture of Agrigento, in agreement with the interior ministry, some 141 migrants left the island on the morning of November 21 with a ferry, also bound for Porto Empedocle.

Search for missing continues after shipwreck

Meanwhile search operations are ongoing to look for those missing following Monday's shipwreck. There is no trace so far of the eight migrants, including two children, who are believed to be in the waters in front of Capo Ponente, according to survivors.

Two choppers of the finance police and the coast guard, which were deployed overnight, returned to base in the morning of November 21 while two cutters are still searching the sea: the Cp 327 of port authorities and V836 of the finance police.