217 migrants arrive on Lampedusa

(ANSA) - ROME, MAR 14 - A total of 217 migrants and refugees arrived on Lampedusa in three separate landings on Thursday morning, on top of the 107 people who disembarked on the tiny Sicilian island during the night.
    A first group, comprising 45 Tunisians and Syrians including six minors and four women, was intercepted by the Italian authorities and accompanied to shore after departing from Chebba in Tunisia. The second and third, respectively comprising 45 and 127 people claiming to be from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Eritrea, Sudan, Morocco, Syria, Egypt and India, had departed from Zuwara in Libya.
    The new arrivals have all been taken to the hotspot reception centre in Contrada Imbriacola hotspot, which now hosts 324 people.
    Of the migrants and refugees to arrive on Lampedusa during the night, two groups respectively of 8 and 54 people were rescued by finance police vessels, while three groups of 1, 17 and 21 Tunisians were found on the islet of Lampione. (ANSA).