The body of a 32-year-old man as well as an injured man arrived on Lampedusa on December 27 after a rescue mission spearheaded by the Italian finance police.

This follows weeks of low arrival numbers on the Italian island -- due to stormy weathers earlier in December.

Both had gunshot wounds, which investigators believe could be from when they boarded the migrant boat in Zwara, Libya, according to sources close to the probe. The man with the wound in the leg is not believed to be in a life-threatening condition.

Prosecutors in Agrigento meanwhile have ordered an autopsy on the dead man.

Overall, 333 migrants -- including 24 who were intercepted directly by the Italian Coast Guard -- managed to reach the island that day.

Further arrivals

One of the other migrant boats which arrived on Lampedusa had departed from the Tunisian city of Sfax in the evening of December 25.

In total, there were 42 people from the Ivory Coast, Gambia, Guinea, Mali and Sierra Leone on that the five-meter-long iron boat

One young man from that group could not stand up due to a broken foot, and was taken to hospital upon arrival.

The migrants were reported to have paid between 500 and 700 euros each for the dangerous crossing.

Abandoned by a smuggler

Landings continued on Lampedusa also on December 28, with 87 fresh arrivals between the night and the morning hours.

Two boats reached the island with 45 people on board, including six women from Mali, Guinea, Senegal, Gambia and Cameroon as well as 17 Tunisian nationals, including four minors.

Meanwhile, agroup of 25 Tunisians, including six women and seven minors, were intercepted by Carabinieri police on the cliffs of Cala Madonna, where they had been abandoned by a smuggler.

The migrants said they had departed from Mahdia, in Tunisia, and that they had each paid an average of 1,600 euros for the trip.