The Sicilian island of Lampedusa was
grappling with a record number of sea arrivals on Tuesday, with
2,472 people arriving in 59 boats since midnight and others
arriving on a further nine boats still to be counted.
The previous record for a single day was 2,172 arrivals on 65
boats, at the end of August.
"I expect there to be around one hundred landings by this
evening," said Agrigento prefect Filippo Romano.
"The situation is truly dramatic," he continued.
Romano said however that the authorities are "handling the
phenomenon and things will improve when we have the Porto
Empedocle hotspot and the transfer ships always on the ready".
"However, the international problem remains," he added.
Earlier islanders expressed their surprise at the arrival of so
many small boats all at once.
"U mare chino c'è (the sea is full, ed)," they said.
Investigators suspect that the small, rusting and badly welded
migrant boats may have been left offshore by 'mother ships' in
an attempt to speed up departures in view of a bad weather
forecast for the coming days.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
