The Italian Red Cross on Wednesday sounded the alarm about the humanitarian situation on the Sicily island of Lampedusa. More than 5,000 people arrived in more than 100 boats in a single day, after North African smugglers took advantage of calm seas to depart.
At least one infant died after a boat capsized near the coast, state television said.
Dozens of new arrivals crowded onto the rocky pier of Lampedusa port, while others took shelter in the shade of a nearby campsite. Meanwhile, the island’s only refugee reception center, which can accommodate about 400 people, was overcrowded with more than 6,000 people.
The Red Cross has called on the Italian government to quickly transfer the migrants to the mainland, saying that although Italian officials have managed to bring the situation under control, more than 100 ships have disembarked and are approaching the coast.
While medical staff focused their attention on the most vulnerable, the group warned that it was important to keep numbers below a critical threshold to maintain appropriate humanitarian conditions.
State radio station RAI reported that a five-month-old infant drowned after a boat capsized off the coast of Lampedusa early Wednesday morning. The 46 other passengers, including the mother, were rescued by a nearby Italian coast guard vessel.
Former Lampedusa mayor Giussi Nicolini, a longtime migrant advocate, said so many people had arrived that it was impossible to count them all. In a social media post, she thanked guests and nearby campground owners for providing water and other supplies to the group as they found shade along the road.
Despite promises by the right-wing Italian government to crack down on migrant arrivals, and a deal signed by the European Union with Tunisia to stem the flow of refugees, the number of desperate people making the perilous Mediterranean crossing is It has increased.
More than 115,000 people have arrived by boat so far this year, almost double the 63,000 in the same period last year and 41,000 in 2021, according to Home Office figures. Guinea, Ivory Coast and Tunisia have topped the list so far this year.