3,300 new arrivals over few hours
Today at 7.30 am, 200 Eritreans
(including 10 children) disembarked at Lampedusa. They stayed on the Favarolo
pier the entire morning. Gazebos were put up, but the migrants did not move
from the pier (meaning that the centre does not even open in case of
emergency). The Red Cross asked for children’s clothing , and some citizens of
Lampedusa started a charity collection. The Lampedusa Accoglienza bus
closed off the entrance to the pier and guaranteed its privacy (the centre’s
staff is still entirely under contract), aided by 4 army jeeps from the “Safe
Streets” operation. Currently, the ferry is still docked, and will only reach
Porto Empedocle later tonight, at about 3.30 am.
The Borderline Sicilia
Editorial Department
Migration,
3,300 refugees rescued and brought to Sicily
La Repubblica PALERMO – New
migratory wave to Sicily: over 3,300 migrants have been rescued from pontoons
lost at sea. The total number of arrivals in 2014 so far amounts to more than
43,000, which is equal to the final number of arrivals by sea to Italy,
registered for the year 2013. The Northern League is highly critical, and has
verbally attacked the Mare Nostrum operations. The day has thus been of
paramount importance for the Italian Navy and Coast Guard ships in the Sicilian
Channel. During the night and into the next morning, 500 migrants were being transferred
to Lampedusa. The Euro ship and the Peluso patrol ship carried – respectively –
531 and 705 people to Porto Empedocle.
2,000 further arrivals to the
Ragusa area: 450 migrants on the Libra ship, convoy of the Asso 25 tug boat
which has rescued 1,300 people; furthermore, a trawler carrying 250 people had
been towed off Marina di Ragusa. Among the passengers there were numerous
children and pregnant women. The Mare Nostrum ship, in particular, rescued two
migrants who were immediately transferred by helicopter to the Lampedusa
hospital, because of their critical health conditions. The hospital also
received a 9-month pregnant woman, rescued by the Libra ship, and transferred on
a Coast Guard cutter ship.
The Borderline Sicilia
Editorial Department
Translation: Angela Paradiso