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.
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