Migrant arrivals to Lampedusa continue

(ANSA) - ROME, MAR 26 - A group of 43 migrants and refugees arrived on the Sicilian island of Lampedusa early Sunday after being rescued by Italian Coast Guard in the Italian search and rescue (SAR) zone.
    The group, from Ivory Coast, Guinea and Mali, and including 19 women and 2 minors, had embarked in Sfax, Tunisia, on Friday evening.
    On Saturday a total of 1,387 people arrived in Lampedusa in 37 separate landings and on Friday 1.778 people arrived in 43 landings. The vast majority had departed from Tunisia.
    Saturday's arrivals included the 97 survivors of the two shipwrecks that occurred in the Maltese SAR zone earlier in the day.
    Rescuers also recovered eight bodies, which were also disembarked.
    On Saturday night, a Finance Police patrol boat transferred 128 people from Lampedusa to Pozzallo on mainland Sicily, and a further 180 are scheduled to be transferred by regular ferry to Porto Empedocle late Sunday morning.
    In addition, the Coast Guard vessel Diciotti is expected to transfer around 600 people on Sunday afternoon.
    Early Sunday morning there were 2.494 in the Lampedusa hotspot, against an official capacity of less than 400. (ANSA).