In the southern Italian island of Lampedusa, a small boat packed with illegal immigrants capsized, leading to the tragic death of a 2-year-old girl and leaving at least eight people missing, according to rescuers. The Italian coast guard and local fishermen managed to rescue 43 others, most of whom were from Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau, and Mali. The boat departed from Sfax, Tunisia, and hit some rocks before overturning.
The survivors recounted that at least eight people, including two children, were missing from the boat. Meanwhile, another fishing boat carrying 400 illegal immigrants arrived at Lampedusa’s commercial port, bringing the total number of new arrivals to the island to 800 across 11 different trips. This follows the arrival of over 1,200 rescued illegal immigrants the previous week.
Lampedusa, as the southernmost part of Italy, has frequently been overwhelmed by mass arrivals of illegal immigrants, straining its resources and services nearly to the breaking point. The local facility has a capacity for only 400 people, yet in recent times, it has been inundated with arrivals.
Italy has been taking action to address the issue of illegal migration, with over 143,000 attempted entries through the Central Mediterranean migration route to Europe in the first nine months of 2023. The Italian government approved new measures, extending the detention timeframe for migrants who don’t qualify for asylum and planning to increase the number of detention centers to address capacity issues. These measures come amid discussions of implementing a naval blockade as a response to the surge in migration.