Nearly 700 migrants and refugees
arrived on Lampedusa on Sunday after coast guard and finance
police patrol boats intervened in support of 17 boats in
distress.
The boats each carried between 15 and 58 people, including women
and children, from Ivory Coast, Guinea, Mali, Cameroon, Burkina
Faso, Senegal, Syria, Liberia, Ghana, Nigeria, Egypt, Libya and
Sudan.
Six boats were reportedly found adrift without an engine, having
allegedly lost it during the sea crossing.
All the boats except for one, which departed from Zuwara in
Libya, set sail from Sfax in Tunisia.
On Sunday morning there were 2,433 people in the hotspot, after
a total of 701 people arrived on the island in 17 landings on
Saturday.
Also on Saturday, 1,063 people were transferred off Lampedusa to
mainland Sicily and other destinations in Italy by a combination
of passenger ferry and military vessel.
On Sunday morning a riot with stone throwing broke out at the
hotspot, reportedly involving around 100 people said to be from
Sudan and South Sudan, including numerous minors.
The police and Red Cross staff who work at the hotspot
intervened to restore calm.
15 people subsequently required medical attention for mild
injuries.
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