Migrant landings continue on Lampedusa

(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 30 - Some 565 migrants and refugees arrived on Lampedusa on Friday in a total of 15 separate landings since midnight.
    The last three boats to arrive accompanied by finance police and coast guard patrol boats carried respectively 42, 27 and 48 people and had departed from Mahdia and Sfax in Tunisia.
    In one landing early on Friday two new arrivals said the boat they had been travelling on sank and that they had been rescued by another boat carrying 29 people, which was subsequently intercepted by a finance police vessel and escorted to port.
    The two survivors, in a state of shock, said some of their initial travelling companions had been rescued by a Tunisian vessel, while others were missing at sea, but without being able to give details.
    Meanwhile Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said Friday he had met with Justice Minister Carlo Nordio with the aim of "making the system of deportation of irregular migrants more effective" He told 'Oggi è un altro giorno' on Rai 1 that the idea - in application of the recent clamp-down on irregular migration introduced after the February 26 Cutro shipwreck - is to "create detention centres in the places closest to the border for the assessment of the existence of the prerequisites for recognition of refugee status" for people coming from so-called safe countries such as Ivory Coast and Tunisia and to hold those "destined for deportation, while still ensuring respect for all the rights of the person".
    The detention centres are to be located in Sicily and Calabria, including at existing hotspots including, possibly, Lampedusa, where on Friday there were over 3,000 migrants and refugees against an official capacity of 400.
    64.930 migrants and refugees have arrived to Italy by sea so far this year according to interior ministry figures.
    This compares to 27.633 arrivals in the same period in 2022 and to 20.532 in 2021. (ANSA).