Migrants, unstoppable landings in Lampedusa. The EU: "Significant difficulties, ready to help"

• Migrants emergency. 140 people in the Mediterranean, the desperate cry from the boat: "we are dying"
• Over 100 migrants who fled the reception center in Caltanissetta were found in the countryside
• Migrants, Oim: 95 adrift in the Mediterranean, "risk drowning"
• Migrants, still landings in Lampedusa. In the night 130 new arrivals
• Migrants, Lamorgese flies to Tunis: "Concerned about increasing arrivals"

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Unstoppable landings, thanks to the favorable sea conditions, collapsing hotspots and angry tourists for the chaos on the departures of ships: this is the photograph, today, of Lampedusa, stormed by hundreds of migrants, who arrived in just over a week .

"An unacceptable situation" says Lamorgese. The Minister of the Interior has just returned from the talks in Tunis and is at work with the majority on the measure that exceeds Matteo Salvini's safety decrees. The leader of the League in these hours is awaiting the outcome of the Senate vote on the authorization to proceed against him in the case of the Open Arms ship. The Sicilian governor, Nello Musumeci, speaks of "impotent state". 

This morning, another 4 landings occurred on the coast of Lampedusa, including two landings directly to the Favarolo pier and the commercial pier, for a total of 47 people.

The Guardia di Finanza first stopped 7 and then 9 Tunisians on the mainland. Offshore, a patrol boat of the Yellow Flames intercepted two small boats: one with 10 Tunisians and the other with 21 migrants, including 4 minors and 5 women, one of whom is Ukrainian. All of them were taken to the Imbriacola district hotspot to be identified. 

Imbricola is in an emergency. In recent days, over 650 people were waiting for checks, well beyond the expected limit of sixty. "Significant difficulties" comment from Buxelles. The Union says it is "ready to help" and urges Member States to participate in relocations.

"We are aware" of the intensification of the landings of migrants in Sicily, and "we are following closely" also what is happening in the reception centers, says a spokesman for the Commission. "In Lampedusa in particular the difficulties are significant. At first it is clearly the task of the Member State to deal with these difficulties - he recalls - but the European Commission, which has already given support to Italy, remains available if there are further requests ".

The European Commission continues "in coordinating the relocation of migrants rescued at sea. We are currently coordinating a series of operations. Contacts with the Member States are ongoing", but, the spokesman explains, "there is no substantial number of Participating countries. Given the urgency of continuing to find solutions in the summer, we strongly encourage all States to participate. "

Transfers from Lampedusa
have started Transfers from the Imbricola hotspot have begun, trying to ensure that anti-covid security and sanitation measures are respected.

A military ship will transfer 160 migrants from Lampedusa to Pozzallo today. The migrants will undergo rapid tests to detect the possible presence of Covid 19. After completing the procedure, they will be taken by coach to Palermo. The 42 Tunisians who landed on their own
yesterday in Caucana, in the Ragusa area, will find hospitality in a structure in Giarre. The 118 arrived on the ship of the Guardia di Finanza 'Denaro "late yesterday evening were instead transferred to the Don Pistro center in the Cifali district, Ragusa.

Transfers are also made from the tensile structure of Porto Empedocle (Agrigento) to reception centers in all over Italy. Yesterday 410 migrants were transferred from the Lampedusa hotspot thanks also to the Guardia di Finanza and the Coast Guard. The transfers of 250 migrants will take place after the swabs made to check if there are positive people among them at Covid 19. Yesterday in Lampedusa 50 swabs were carried out on the island.

Another 50 migrants left on board a patrol boat of the port authority this morning. The Sansovino ship that was supposed to transfer 200 migrants instead, has not arrived. According to the shipping company, a due to a breakdown but according to the passengers who should have left last night from Porto Empedocle it was the fault of the excessive delay that accu mulato. The sanitization operations after each trip in fact last several hours. The Sansovino ship yesterday morning after exiting the port returned to allow boarding for about 200 migrants, thus delaying the departure for Porto Empedocle by several hours. Departure for the Pelagie is scheduled for tonight. 

The Interior Ministry said in a note that "from 16 July, flights for repatriations to Tunisia have resumed with charters for a total of 80 Tunisian citizens transferred after the lockdown block. The goal - they say - is to increase, even with contingents extraordinary, the number of weekly repatriations.

In fact, in large part, arrivals came from Tunisia, also through autonomous landings. As of July 24, 11,191 migrants landed in Italy, as many as 5,237 left from Tunisia and of these almost 4 thousand are Tunisian citizens " . According to the magistrates of the Prosecutor's Office of Agrigento, Tunisian fishermen turn into smugglers. The latest investigation led to the arrest of 23 Tunisians. "He seems to have returned ten years ago - says the Prosecutor of Agrigento Vella in an interview with La Stampa.

Fishermen also make smugglers
" Before, fishing boats traveled without nets or equipment precisely because in reality they only had to transport migrants, now they do 'one and the other and the fishermen are also smugglers. We found nets on board, even if dry and a little fish. "So the boats cross the Mediterranean without arousing any suspicion, as well as the presence of small boats on board.

Hundreds of small boats have arrived in Lampedusa in recent weeks "Almost all of them are Tunisians and therefore economic migrants - explains Vella - who can almost never have humanitarian protection even if there are those who try to be smart with stratagems". "Every day we seize thirty boats and deal with about twenty arrests in flagranza because they are already expelled people. "

The magistrate does not hide his concern:" Unfortunately the climate in Lampedusa has changed, we are monitoring the situation of public order ".

And in fact in Porto Empedocle it was a night of tension in which several tourists asked for a ticket refund after waiting for the ship to Lampedusa, which arrived late and never left again. According to the story of the people on board the nav and, the delay was due to the boarding procedures of more than 300 migrants, who actually got off and placed, on foot, in the nearby tensile structure of Porto Empedocle, already saturated.

After sanitizing the premises, some of the vacationers heading to Lampedusa were invited to sleep on the ship. Many, however, preferred to go home, not without anger: some tourists, in escalation in the ticket offices, were identified by the police, who monitored the port area all night.

This morning dozens of people landed on the beaches of Calabria.
A few dozen migrants of various nationalities landed this morning on the Reggio coast south of Locride, on the outskirts of Ferruzzano Marina. The migrants who were on board a sailboat of about 25 meters, including families, reached the shoreline with the boat. After the boat ran aground, they descended scattering along the beach, the Ionian railway section and the State 106. On the spot agents of the State Police, the Carabinieri and the soldiers of the Guardia di Finanza and the Harbor Master's Office intervened. Several migrants have been tracked down and blocked.