Not even the umpteenth tragedy of the sea in Greece stops the departures. On the contrary, the landings follow one another on our coasts, where about 1,400 migrants have arrived in 48 hours.
The oily receiving machine is once again under pressure as migrants keep pouring in and only inclement weather – and not always – causes crossings to halt briefly. 16 groups landed in Lampedusa yesterday, totaling 820, including Ivorians, Malaysians, Ghanaians, Sudanese, Nigerians, Bengalis, Egyptians, Moroccans and Syrians, arriving on boats with between 38 and 134 passengers on board. They are in addition to the 612 landings on the island the day before, making 15 landings. The Coast Guard and the Yellow Flames rescued her at sea. Three groups of 134, 42 and 129 migrants left Zuwarah, Libya, paying between $2,500 and $4,000 each, all others sailed from Sfax and Mahdia, Tunisia, on small boats and paying between 1,000 and 3,000 Tunisian dinars.
The island hotspot fills up again with 1,300 guests. For this reason, the Prefecture of Agrigento, in agreement with the Ministry of the Interior, has organized transfers. Last night 430 people left the island in two groups and another 600 will leave today on the ship Dattilo.
“Europe needs to envision a special law that not only deals with issues affecting not only the human rights of migrants, but also the rights of citizens residing permanently on the islands of Lampedusa and Linosa,” said the Mayor of Lampedusa , Filippo Mannino, yesterday during a visit to the island of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatovic. Mannino stressed that “Europe is helpless in dealing with immigration problems”. “We always talk about cohesion and cooperation between states,” he said – but in reality we don’t want to change the Dublin Regulation, we don’t want to open humanitarian channels, and Lampedusa’s problems remain the same as ever. Year-to-date are 57,346 Migrants arrived compared to 24,479 last year, or +134.27%. Of these, 6,481 are unaccompanied minors.