After the arrival of thousands of migrants in Lampedusa this week, the situation on the Mediterranean island is less tense today. This morning, about 700 boat migrants left the small island in ferries and police ships bound for Sicily and the Italian mainland, the Italian Red Cross said.
Since the beginning of this week, thousands of boat migrants have arrived on the island between Sicily and North Africa. On Tuesday alone, there were more than 5,000 migrants. Never before had so many people arrived in one day.
The Red Cross reception camp sometimes held up to 6,800 people, more than the almost 6,500 residents of the municipality of Lampedusa. Tensions in the camp increased on Wednesday and Thursday, with crowding at the fences and chaotic scenes during the distribution of food.
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During the course of the day, another 2,500 people will be taken from the island. “After the transfers, the situation is now a bit calmer,” the aid organization’s director, Rosario Valastro, said on social networks.
After the first transfers on Friday morning, approximately 3,800 people are still on the island, according to the Red Cross. Images showed numerous people at the port waiting to be transferred to the mainland.
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