Spontaneous arrivals in large numbers in Lampedusa, the police: “But the hotspot is not overwhelmed”
#Agrigento
There have been a total of 578 migrants who arrived in Lampedusa since midnight today, August 10th. The coast guard and financial police vessels were able to rescue 13 out of the 15 boats that arrived. Two groups of migrants were able to land on the mainland: 4 Tunisians arrived at the commercial dock at 2:40 am and were detained by the police, while another 16 migrants were found at 6:20 am on Via Roma, in front of the carabinieri barracks. The latter group claimed to have been transferred to the coast by a Libyan fishing boat that then returned to sea.
Yesterday, August 9th, there were a total of 14 arrivals on the island, with four of them landing at Cala Palme, Cala Croce, Cala Galera, and Molo Madoninna, bringing the total number of people to 435. Within a span of 36 hours, a total of 1,013 migrants have arrived, mostly departing from Kerkenna, Sfax, Gabes, and Teboulba in Tunisia. Only a couple of groups mentioned Zuwara, Libya, as their port of departure. All of them have been taken to the Contrada Imbriacola hotspot.
Currently, there are 1,458 migrants staying at the Lampedusa hotspot. The prefecture of Agrigento and the police have been trying to reduce the number of guests in the past few days, as they were aware that if the sea conditions improved, there would be a massive increase in crossings. Today, with the morning and evening ferries to Porto Empedocle, a total of 600 migrants (400 on the morning ship Galaxy and the rest on Cossyra) will leave the island. Yesterday, 1,100 guests from the initial reception structure were transferred.
The police in Agrigento have responded to the situation at the first reception center. They state, “We are tired of hearing and reading about the ‘Lampedusa hotspot collapsing.’ Thanks to the organizational efforts of the police and the prefecture, the hotspot, managed by the Italian Red Cross, is not suffering. It is full but well-organized. The Red Cross is effectively managing the situation, while the police are conducting identification and fingerprinting operations at a high pace and in an orderly manner, processing over a thousand arrivals per day.” The record pace of police work allows for the transfer of a thousand people per day, with 1,100 migrants being relocated from Lampedusa yesterday.
Sbarchi a raffica a Lampedusa, la questura: «Ma l’hotspot non è al collasso»
Sicilian news
Tutte le Notizie in Italiano
SIGDS