Italy has closed its ports to NGO-run migrant rescue vessels due to safety concerns amid the coronavirus pandemic. NGOs and activists have criticized this decision. Meanwhile, improved weather conditions have led to more departures of migrants, trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe.
34 migrants disembarked at the port of Lampedusa on Monday afternoon. Among them were 11 women, two of them pregnant. Before that, the island hadn't seen any migrant arrivals in three weeks. The migrants were transferred to the island's hotspot and will be placed under quarantine.
The number of migrants landing on Italy's coasts is dropping amid the coronavirus crisis, new government statistics show. In March, 241 migrants landed in Italy.
More than 150 organizations have pledged support to the "United4Rescue" initiative, launched by Germany's Protestant Church, which hopes to finance sea rescue efforts and send its own vessel into the Mediterranean Sea. The group is hoping to acquire a rescue ship in the near future.
13 people have been arrested in a joint Italian-Greek police operation to break up an alleged smuggling gang. The gang specialized in sailing small groups of migrants between Greece and the south-east Italian coast.
At least 150 people were on board the migrant vessel that departed from Gambia at the end of November. 83 who were on board swam to shore.
The new conservative government in Athens pledges to speed up asylum procedures and return thousands of migrants to Turkey. Not an easy task for a country at the heart of the so-called migrant crisis.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said that more than 1,000 people had died at sea in the Mediterranean in 2019 in a bid to reach Europe. The statement came on the anniversary of the shipwreck off Lampedusa on October 3, 2013.
More than 200 migrants have reportedly arrived on Italian shores over the weekend. The number of arrivals in Italy is on the rise once more.
Many of the migrants saved by the Ocean Viking private rescue boat celebrate their arrival in Italy, as they know they've made it to the European Union. But there's still a long road full of uncertainties ahead for the new arrivals. For the time being, however, they focus on sharing their hopes and dreams.
Authorities in Italy are concerned over so-called "phantom" migrant landings, which have become a daily occurrence on the coasts of Sicily, Sardinia, and Calabria.
The Italian Interior Ministry advised that a total of 1,200 migrants had arrived by sea in September to date. Meanwhile, arrivals by small boat continue unabated, in particular on the islands of Lampedusa and Sardinia.