A considerable number of migrants reached the Sicilian island of Lampedusa and the Calabrian city of Crotone in recent days. Nearly 800 people arrived on Lampedusa between Monday and Tuesday.
A reported 208 migrants rescued from four different boats reached Lampedusa in the night between Monday, November 4 and Tuesday, November 5.
One of the boats, a 10-meter vessel carrying 141 people, was rescued by the coast guard shortly before midnight. The passengers included individuals from Bangladesh, Egypt, Eritrea, Libya, Morocco, Pakistan, Syria, and Sudan. They reported departing from Zawiya, Libya, and paying between 5,000 and 7,000 dollars each, hoping to reach France, Germany, or the Netherlands.
The other three boats were intercepted by the EU border agency Frontex and finance police. These boats carried groups of 24, 26, and 17 people, respectively, from Pakistan, Syria, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Afghanistan. Two of these groups were traveling in dinghies that had departed from Ras Jedir, Libya, while the third group had set off from Tripoli.
Landings resumed on Lampedusa on November 4, when 571 people reached the island on 12 boats over the course of 24 hours.
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Pregnant women, unaccompanied minors in Crotone
Meanwhile, coast guards rescued 99 migrants on the night of Monday, November 4, and brought them to the port of Crotone, Calabria. Among them were 26 minors and 20 women, including four who were pregnant. They had been traveling on a 16-meter sailboat that was intercepted 30 miles south of Crotone by a port authority cutter.
Due to the overcrowding and poor condition of the sailboat, coast guards transferred all passengers aboard and diverted to Crotone, arriving overnight.
Landing operations, coordinated by the prefecture of Crotone, were managed by the central police department's immigration office. Most of the passengers, who had departed from Turkey four days before, hailed from Afghanistan. They included 50 men, 19 women and 26 minors, six of whom were traveling alone. There were also an Algerian woman and three Iranian men.
Healthcare officials from Crotone's local health authority reported that the migrants, including the four pregnant women, were in good health. Only one Afghan citizen was hospitalized because he was seriously dehydrated. The migrants were taken to the hosting center of Isola Capo Rizzuto.
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