21 boats landed

Almost 1000 people have arrived on Lampedusa

21 boats with a total of 945 migrants on board have arrived on the island since Saturday morning.(Bild: AFP (Archivbild))

The southern Italian Mediterranean island of Lampedusa is once again confronted with strong migration movements. 21 boats with a total of 945 migrants on board have arrived on the island since Saturday morning. The boats had departed from Sfax and Zarzis in Tunisia and from Sabratha and Tajoura in Libya.

On board were people from Bangladesh, Egypt, Pakistan, Syria, Cote d'Ivoire, Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Niger and Senegal. The migrants who arrived were accommodated in the island's hotspot, where 1,335 people were staying on Sunday. Some of them are to be taken to Sicily later on Sunday.

15-month-old girl is missing
44 migrants, including eleven women and three minors, were rescued off the coast of Lampedusa on Saturday night after their boat sank. A 15-month-old girl, who was traveling with her mother, is missing. The baby's mother had fallen into the water and was unable to save her child.

In a joint operation by the "Mare Ionio", a ship belonging to the Italian NGO Mediterranea, and an Italian coastguard patrol boat, 59 people were rescued on Saturday, including two pregnant women who were in difficulty on an overcrowded boat.

28 attempts at irregular migration foiled
Meanwhile, the Tunisian coast guard has thwarted 28 attempts at irregular migration by intercepting 1178 people on board several boats off the coast of the Sfax region. Most of the people were from sub-Saharan countries, with the exception of 18 Tunisians.

The National Guard in Sfax also arrested nine people accused of being involved in human trafficking. 15 metal boats, 25 boat engines and a large quantity of fuel were confiscated.

9479 people have arrived in southern Italy since the beginning of 2024 after crossing the Mediterranean. In the same period in 2023, the figure was 20,364, according to the Italian Ministry of the Interior.