Lampedusa reception center saturated after the arrival of 2,200 migrants

More than 2,200 migrants have been staying, since last Monday, in the reception center on the Italian island of Lampedusa, after the massive rescue in the Mediterranean Sea on the last day.

Oliver Thansan
Oliver Thansan
25 April 2023 Tuesday 02:52
11 Reads
Lampedusa reception center saturated after the arrival of 2,200 migrants

More than 2,200 migrants have been staying, since last Monday, in the reception center on the Italian island of Lampedusa, after the massive rescue in the Mediterranean Sea on the last day. Currently, with the new wave of people, the center -near the African coasts- exceeds its capacity five times more.

The figures inside this facility are in continuous evolution, since, as confirmed by sources internal to the agency, during this Monday night 19 barges from North Africa have disembarked with around 705 migrants on board.

The Italian Coast Guard already warned during the afternoon of this Monday that the night would be intense given the presence of at least twenty boats with immigrants around the island, following a new wave in the central Mediterranean from the Tunisian coast.

Thus, after another night of rescues, the Contrada Imbriacola reception center has ended up housing more than 2,200 immigrants, despite only having a capacity for 400.

The humanitarian organizations that assist them, such as Save the Children, have denounced the precarious hygienic situation that exists in its five pavilions, delimited by a high fence and watched at all times from above by the Army.

The authorities are now trying to reorganize the agglomeration situation with transfers of immigrants to the island of Sicily, specifically to the city of Porto Empedocle. It is expected that in the next few hours at least 700 immigrants will be displaced.

A hundred migrants, including some children, have already been taken from the small island of Lampedusa, while another 47 arrived at the port saved by the humanitarian ship of the Spanish NGO Open Arms.

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi is expected to visit the reception center today, which is maintaining a hectic pace after the latest arrivals.