The migrant hotspot on Lampedusa.was overwhelmed on Monday after the arrival of 20 boats carrying a total of 2,128 people to the Italian island in 24 hours.
Four of those boats, carrying 635 asylum seekers, arrived overnight.
A port authority vessel assisted a fishing boat in difficulty with 352 people of various nationalities on board some nine miles from the coast shortly before midnight.
Another vessel took on 87 people from a boat that was abandoned 15 miles from the shore.
At 3:20 101 migrants, including 10 women and three children, landed after being rescued 12 miles form the coast..
Then another 95 asylum seekers, including three women and five children, arrived.
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