Over 100 people had to be rescued from a ferry sailing from the southern Italian island of Lampedusa to Sicily early on Saturday after a fire broke out in the engine room. Among the passengers were many migrants, according to authorities.
The ferry from the small island Lampedusa to Porto Empedocle in southern Sicily was carrying a total of 177 people, with nearly half of them migrants, the Italian Coast Guard said. They were being transferred to the much larger island of Sicily on Saturday night.
The passengers were taken to safety and later moved onto patrol vessels to be transferred to Sicily or to be taken back to Lampedusa, the Coast Guard added.
Migrants arrivals soaring
Lampedusa is a migrant hotspot due its proximity of roughly 300 kilometers to the North African coast. The majority of migrants who succeed in crossing this section of the Mediterranean by boat will land on the small island.
Due to a recent surge in migrant arrivals, with the local reception facility having to house 20 times more migrants than what it is designed for, the government tries to transfer many of the migrants to reception centers elsewhere.
Against the backdrop of these soaring numbers, the Italian government approved a new decree on migration and security last week, which mandates an increase in expulsions of rejected migrants.
Migration: top EU issue
The dramatic rise of migrant landings on Lampedusa has once again pushed the issue of migration to the forefront of the political agenda in Italy as well as across the EU.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has recently managed to gain more assurances from the bloc to help with managing this influx in migration.
However, the EU is also battling with keeping migration at bay at other parts of its external border, with a recent rise of migrants coming in on its eastern flank, and sentiments about migrants turning increasingly negative.
Read more: EU Parliament President, optimistic on migration pact
Meanwhile in Italy, more than 130,000 migrants have arrived so far this year, which is almost double the number of last year, according to information from the interior ministry.
The number of those not succeeding in their quest of reaching the EU is also sobering: the latest UN figures indicate that since the beginning of 2023, more than 2,500 have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean while trying to reach Europe.
Read more: Pope Francis calls on Europe to welcome migrants
with AFP