Milan: Five boats carrying hundreds of migrants landed in Lampedusa after being intercepted by Italian authorities off the coast of the Mediterranean island, ANSA news agency reported on Sunday. Lampedusa is one of the main landing points on the route for migrants departing mostly from Tunisia and Libya to reach Europe, according to a Reuters report. “Migrants arrivals are resuming alongside good weather”, Lampedusa mayor Toto Martello told state broadcaster RAI. “We need to restart discussions about the immigration issue,” he said.
ANSA said one of the boats, carrying 325 people, was intercepted 8 miles off Lampedusa. A patrol vessel belonging to the Italian tax police, who deal with financial crime and smuggling, escorted a second boat carrying some 90 people to the island, ANSA reported. Two other boats carrying 98 and 16 people landed the Mediterranean island on Sunday, the news agency added. Some 400 migrants of various nationalities disembarked on Sunday from a fifth boat, a drifting fishing vessel, the Italian news agency said in a separate report.
