>>>ANSA/Migrant pressure mounts on Lampedusa

(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 13 - There were moments of tension at Lampedusa port on Wednesday afternoon as there appeared to be no let-up in the arrival of small boats landing migrants and refugees on the tiny Sicilian island.
    Hundreds of new arrivals demanded to be allowed to leave the disembarkation area and tried to break through safety barriers, prompting a preemptive charge from finance police.
    However, calm was said to have been quickly restored as numerous other small boats lined up in the port waiting to disembark.
    Pressure has been mounting on Lampedusa for several days, with a record 110 vessels with 5,112 people on board landing on the Italian island on Tuesday.
    As of 5 pm local time there were 6,762 migrants and refugees on Lampedusa - more than the island's population of around 6,000.
    The majority were in the hotspot, where on Wednesday evening disorder broke out during the distribution of the evening meal as hundreds of people rushed to grab their food in fear there would not be enough to go round.
    Transfers off the island continued throughout the day, but struggled to keep pace with the new arrivals, which included survivors of a shipwreck in which a five-month old baby died.
    According to an initial reconstruction, the fatal accident took place when the people aboard the boat all moved to one side, causing several to fall into the water as a Coast Guard vessel approached to rescue it.
    The other people who fell in the water were saved.
    The mother, a minor from Guinea who was traveling with other family members, was given psychological support at Lampedusa's migrant hotspot.
    The baby's body was taken to the mortuary at the island's Cala Pisana cemetery.
    On Wednesday the Lampedusa municipal council proclaimed a 'state of emergency' in relation to the wave of migrant landings on the island.
    "Today the municipal council declared a state of emergency," Mayor Filippo Mannino said.
    "We reiterated what we have been asking for for months, namely to try to bypass the island by having ships at anchor, help and support for an island that has been under great strain in recent months," he added, as local pries Don Carmelo Rizzo described the situation as "tragic, dramatic, apocalyptic".
    "Not even rubbish is disposed of, water for the island comes from the mainland," he said in an interview to Stranierinitalia.it.
    "The Red Cross has supplies, but if 3,400 (migrants) arrive each day, they also fight over water among themselves.
    "We are all on the alert and even the bishop is dismayed," he added.
    Meanwhile, the migrant sea rescue hotline Alarm Phone said Wednesday a group of approximately 47 people could be in distress off Lampedusa. "We have made contact with a small boat carrying 47 people in distress just 10 km off Lampedusa," Alarm Phone said. "At 5 am they told us they were adrift without engine fuel. Since then we have had no further news. We hope they have been rescued," it added.
    Further afield, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres told reporters that the situation on Lampedusa is a European problem and that everyone must do their part.
    "Efforts cannot be made only by the countries of first arrival but must be shared, this is an EU problem and there must be solidarity mechanisms," said Guterres. "The flow includes refugees and people who essentially move for economic reasons," he added.
    "Everyone must see their human rights respected but there is a way to determine refugee status.
    "In any case, it is essential that there be European solidarity," he concluded. (ANSA).