At least seven migrants are reported to have died of hypothermia in a boat off the Italian island of Lampedusa. The overcrowded vessel was reportedly carrying about 280 people, mostly from Bangladesh and Egypt.
The rescue ship Geo Barents, with 439 migrants on board, has requested a port of safety in Italy. Meanwhile, hundreds disembarked on the island of Lampedusa, following several other rescues by the coast guards and civil fleets.
In 2013, thousands of migrants descended on the island of Lampedusa. In response, Italy hastily established a new policy for receiving migrants. From humanitarian protection to a controversial agreement with Libya, has this strategy been a success? InfoMigrants takes a look back at nearly a decade of Italy's migration policy.
The new year saw the first landings of migrants on Italian territory in 2022. The 81 migrants were registered between January 1 and 2 along the coasts of the islands of Lampedusa and Sardinia.
Amid a record number of migrants landing on the Italian island of Lampedusa this year, the local prefect has warned that the island is currently at full capacity.
Chris Obehi is a young Nigerian musician, singer and songwriter. After migrating from Warri, in Nigeria to Palermo, in Sicily, he began busking and mixing sounds from Nigeria with songs from his adopted culture in Sicily. The result is an award-winning new album: Obehi.
The minister for infrastructure and sustainable mobility, Enrico Giovannini, said during a visit to Lampedusa that the island should be seen "above all as a border of the European Union." The entire block, rather than individual countries, should manage the migration issue, he said.
Italian coast guards rescued more than 550 migrants from stormy seas at the weekend from two separate boats. The rescued people were brought ashore in the southern state of Calabria. More than 100 migrants also made it in several boats to Lampedusa. Twenty more arrived on Monday.
Italian authorities have allowed 306 migrants on board the Ocean Viking to disembark in Sicily’s east coast port of Augusta. Meanwhile the Italian coast guard rescued 396 migrants from a wooden fishing boat which had run aground off the southern coast of Sicily.
The private rescue ship Sea-Eye 4 has saved a total of more than 800 migrants in the Mediterranean in recent days while other NGO ships and the Italian coast guard rescued nearly 600. The Sea-Eye 4 is now heading for the Italian port of Lampedusa.
Over the weekend, Tunisian authorities say they picked up 125 migrants bound for Europe. The majority of the group were sub-Saharan Africans.
Late on Tuesday, October 19, the private rescue yacht Nadir was able to disembark the 34 migrants it had rescued almost two days before. Another 412 migrants are still waiting on board the Sea-Watch 3 ship to be assigned a safe port at which to disembark.