More than a thousand refugees have arrived in Lampedusa

More than 1,000 refugees have arrived on the island of Lampedusa since Easter Sunday. 36 people, including eight women and one minor, were rescued by a Coast Guard vessel on Monday evening. The seven-meter boat had left Tunisia. On board were people from Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Gambia and Guinea.

On Easter Sunday, 26 boats with a total of 974 people arrived in Lampedusa. On Saturday, 17 boats with 679 people landed on the island between Tunisia and Sicily. As of Monday, there were 1,883 refugees in the island’s hotspot. Some of them will be taken to Sicily by ferry on Monday.

The bodies of two refugees were recovered on Sunday by the NGO ship “Resqship” and taken to Lampedusa. The rescue ship’s crew had previously rescued about 25 people who had been shipwrecked in Maltese waters. The crew recovered 22 survivors and two bodies.

Several people have been reported missing after the boat they were on sank, but their numbers are unclear: According to the authorities, about 20 people are wanted.

A fishing boat with 400 people on board floated in the central Mediterranean on Easter Sunday, according to aid organization Alarm Phone. The boat departed from Tobruk in Libya. “We have alerted the authorities, but no rescue operation has yet been confirmed”reported Alarmphone.

Despite the dangerous crossing of the Mediterranean Sea, many people continue to find their way to Europe. Since the beginning of 2023, 28,028 migrants and refugees have arrived in Italy by sea. compared to 6832 in the same period in 2022 and 8394 in 2021, according to statistics from the Ministry of the Interior in Rome. (saw/sda/apa)