Migrants, still landings: 1500 arrivals between Reggio Calabria and Messina. EU: ready to help Italy

• Migrants, Italy's formal step with the EU: serious situation
• Migrants, Minniti: in the central Mediterranean, save ten thousand people in four days

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1,066 migrants landed in the port of Reggio Calabria aboard the Save the Children ship "Vos Hestia". 835 men, 231 women. 296 minors: of these, 55 are not accompanied. Almost all of them come from Eritrea, Somalia and Bangladesh. Six migrants arrived in Calabria affected by chickenpox, 250 cases of scabies. Six pregnant women got out of the "Vos Hestia", all pregnant a few months. The suspicion is that women were victims of violence in Libyan territory before leaving. A Somali woman, in the eighth month of pregnancy with phlebitis, bilateral edema of the ankles and infected wound in her right hand, was transferred to another ship for the necessary hospitalization. Four minors are under observation: an apparently healthy four-day-old infant and a ten-month Libyan baby suffering from postpartum hypoxic brain damage in stable conditions, another one-and-a-half-month-old infant and an Eritrean child of three years with fracture results, untreated, of the right leg with deforming results.

The transfer to Sicily is also ready. The
reception and first aid machine has been operating since early morning: in addition to the Prefecture of Reggio Calabria and the police, committed to welcoming the 1066 migrants, also the operators of 118, of the Usmaf, of Caritas and other voluntary associations. The Regional Civil Protection has set up the pressurized shower system for dermatological treatment for the 250 cases of scabies. For the first time, the allotment plan prepared provides for the transfer of a group of one hundred migrants to Sicily: 50 in Agrigento, 25 in Enna and 25 in Messina.

412 migrants in Messina
And again in Sicily, this morning 417 migrants from Senegal landed at the Marconi pier in the port of Messina, arriving on board a Maltese patrol boat. The migrants were recovered during the operations which, in the past few days, were conducted off the Sicily Channel. 93 women on board, 10 of whom are pregnant and many minors. To welcome them, at the port, the reception system, immediately active The migrants arrived in Messina will be transported to city structures, others to different centers in the rest of Italy.

Rescue operations resumed in Cagliari
In Cagliari, on the other hand, identification operations and medical examinations of the 903 migrants who arrived yesterday resumed this morning. Of these, 450 spent the night inside the cruise terminal, set up with cots and beds by Caritas, Civil Protection and voluntary associations. For the other 450, however, the transfer to the various reception centers scattered throughout Sardinia was arranged: 429 will remain in the province of Cagliari, 273 will be welcomed in Sassari, 117 in Nuoro and 84 in Oristano. Children and women, six of whom are pregnant, have already left the port. It is expected that all identification and reception procedures will be completed by the end of the day.

Three alleged
smugglers arrested Meanwhile, two Eritreans were arrested by the police for the disembarkation of 674 migrants yesterday in Pozzallo. Yemane Haile, 38, and Yihanas Taghlet, 39, are accused of leading a wooden boat with 450 people. The two were taken to the Ragusa prison. In Catania, however, the Police and the Guardia di Finanza arrested a 30-year-old Libyan man on charges of aiding illegal immigration in relation to the landing of 789 migrants, who left the Libyan coast and landed in Catania on 27 June on board the coast guard ship 'CP 941 Ubaldo Diciotti'. To recognize the 30 year old were the migrants themselves. Decisive for the investigations, the reconstruction of the coast guard crew, the declarations of the migrants and some images extrapolated from the cell phone of the alleged smuggler. 

Government: ready to stop ships
At endless landings on the Italian coast, the government responds with a formal request to the European Union to take concrete action. The alternative is to close ports to ships of foreign NGOs. "We ask some European countries to stop turning their heads the other way," Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni thundered to Europe. Even the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella spoke on the theme: "If the phenomenon of flows continues with these numbers, the situation would become unmanageable". Brussels has sided with Rome and Commissioner Avramopoulos has promised to allocate 35 million immediately to welcome Italy: "We are working to improve support for the country". Italy would be at the limit of the reception capacity and to confirm it are the numbers of the last hours: in the last two days 12 thousand migrants have landed on our coasts, 80 thousand since the beginning of the year. 

The EU ready to support Italy
"We support Italy in discussions on regional cooperation on landings". So from Brussels a spokeswoman for the Commission, Natasha Bertaud, commenting on the possibility that Italy will close its ports to foreign NGOs. The informal meeting of EU interior ministers next week in Estonia "should be an opportunity to discuss at political level" the issue and "decide on immediate support for Italy", said the EU executive. The Commission has ensured that it is working "hand in hand" with Italy and asks the other Member States to "redouble their efforts along the Central Mediterranean route", the spokeswoman continued. "Italy is right. The situation is very demanding" and "all Member States must show solidarity with Italy". The EU executive, meanwhile, says he is ready "to increase support for Italy, including with a substantial increase in financial assistance", said the spokeswoman.