LAMPEDUSA (Italy), Sept 15 — The tiny Italian island of Lampedusa struggled yesterday to cope with a surge in migrant boats from North Africa after numbers peaked at 7,000...
LAMPEDUSA , Sept 15 — The tiny Italian island of Lampedusa struggled yesterday to cope with a surge in migrant boats from North Africa after numbers peaked at 7,000 people—equivalent to the entire local population.
Many arrive first on Lampedusa, located just around 145 kilometres off the coast of Tunisia, where the Italian Red Cross said late Wednesday it was hosting 7,000 people. On Thursday, hundreds more migrants arrived but many more were transferred off the island for processing in Sicily, and the Red Cross said the situation was “more under control”.Overnight, cots were set up inside and outside the Lampedusa centre for people to sleep, while during the day others crouched on the floor in the shade between the buildings.On Wednesday evening, an AFP photographer found some of them queueing for ice-cream. Several said they were hungry.
Many do not survive the journey. More than 2,000 people have died this year crossing between North Africa and Italy and Malta, according to the UN migration agency. Italy’s hard-right government allocated 45 million euros to Lampedusa earlier this month to help the island better manage the migrant situation.
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