By: Annie Huang
On Sunday July 24th 2022, about 1,200 undocumented migrants had arrived in Italy on boat in just a couple of hours, authorities say. The migrants, who hail from several Asian, African, and Middle Eastern nations, landed at ports in Sicily, Italy.
Officials say 674 people were rescued, and 5 dead bodies were found and recovered from an overcrowded fishing boat off the coast of Calabria, while another 522 people were rescued from about 15 boats, which were brought to Lampedusa.
Many of the rescued migrants were from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia and since the boats departed from Libya and Tunisia, Lampedusa is now one of the main arrival ports for people wanting to reach Europe.
According to the Italian media, the island’s immigration center has been overwhelmed by a huge increase in landings in the recent weeks. The Ansa news agency reports that the center is well over its 350-person capacity, reporting about 1,184 people at site.
The Coast Guard and non-governmental organizations report that the Mediterranean is one of the most dangerous routes for clandestine migration. This is because journeys are perilous in overcrowded wooden fishing boats and flimsy polyurethane dinghies hardly suitable for crossing a river, much less a vast sea.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), around 3,231 people were recorded as being either dead or had gone missing in the Mediterranean and the northwest Atlantic in 2021.
Unfortunately, for many of those making the perilous crossing, they us makeshift vessels supplied by smugglers and are often left abandoned in the middle of the sea once the boats fail.
But luckily, Giorgia Meloni, an Italian journalist and politician, has pledged to clamp down on migration on the Mediterranean, as it is dangerous and not safe. In the past, she had caused controversy by advocating for a blockade of the Libyan coast to stop smugglers launching towards the Italian coast.
Link: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62283202