A group of 160 migrants left the Italian island of Lampedusa for Sicily on Thursday morning. But the island's reception center is still overflowing, with more than twice as many people as it can hold.
A total of 568 people remain in the reception center on the Italian island of Lampedusa following several transfers to the region of Sicily this week. The facility was built to accommodate no more than 250 people.
On Thursday (September 2) morning, a group of 160 migrants left the local hotspot. They travelled to Sicily by ferry and on a coast guard vessel.
On Wednesday, two groups of 102 migrants and 80 migrants left Lampedusa for Sicily aboard two ferries.
An additional group was taken aboard the coronavirus-protection quarantine boat Azzurra, docked off Lampedusa.
Migrants who arrived on Lampedusa this week
This year, there has been an increase in migrant arrivals via the Mediterranean in Italy overall, and in particular on the route from Tunisia to Italy.
More than 300 migrants arrived on Lampedusa in recent days -- some of them landed on the island's shore independently, many were intercepted or rescued in the sea near the island.
Coast guards on Thursday morning intercepted a small boat carrying seven Tunisians about seven miles south of Lampedusa, after a quiet night.
On Wednesday evening, a coast guard boat rescued nine Tunisians from a boat at sea west of Lampedusa.
During the night between Tuesday and Wednesday, a total of 191 migrants reached the island on seven boats.
Migrants rescued in Mediterranean
During the day on Tuesday, 128 people reached Lampedusa -- most of them were rescued from boats off the island by Italian authorities.
The rescued migrants included a large number of Tunisian nationals and at least 18 minors.
In addition to those rescued from boats off Lampedusa, five people who were found on Lampione -- a small, uninhabited island about 10 miles from Lampedusa -- and brought to the larger island.
Finally, 12 Tunisians landed directly on the Madonnina pier where they were met by finance police.