Italian island struggling with spike in migrant arrivals

By Giada Zampano

ROME (AA) - A massive influx of migrants in recent days is putting the tiny southern Italian island of Lampedusa under strain, with its reception center crowded by over 1,800 people.

More than a thousand migrants have been rescued in the Mediterranean Sea since Saturday, European charities and the Italian Coast Guard said, while five migrants have been found dead.

Among those rescued, more than 400 asylum seekers and migrants had been disembarked by Sunday morning in Lampedusa after another 350 people arrived Saturday.

Being Italy's closest strip of land to North Africa, Lampedusa is the first place where migrants who cross the Mediterranean and are rescued by non-governmental organizations’ boats set foot in Europe.

The constant flux of arrivals is piling up pressure on the island’s small reception center, which was already dealing with over 1,000 people before the latest rescues. The center is technically equipped to host a maximum of 350 people.

The current weather is making conditions for crossing the Mediterranean – the deadliest route for migrants trying to reach Europe -- more favorable, and migrant arrivals in Italy are up by nearly one-quarter from 2021, with 34,013 recorded so far.

Mediterranean countries on major migrant routes into Europe forecast more than 150,000 arrivals this year as food shortages caused by the Ukraine conflict threaten to trigger a new migration wave from Africa and the Middle East.

The migrants who arrived recently on Italian shores were mostly Afghans, Pakistanis, Sudanese, Ethiopians, Somalis, Nigerians, Senegalese and Eritreans, according to local media.