Hundreds of migrants arrive on Italian island of Lampedusa

Hundreds of migrants have arrived on the small Italian island of Lampedusa within a few hours on Tuesday.

Most of them are from Sfax, Tunisia according to the Italian news agency ANSA.

Many of them were rescued by the Italian Coast Guard, with others rescued by non-profit rescue ships and other small boats arriving independently.

SKY Italia showed a group of migrants filing off a Coast Guard ship and onto the pier in Lampedusa.

Among them were young women and children walking barefoot along the dock towards buses that were waiting.

For the entire summer, authorities have shuttled migrants in and out of the temporary facility on the island which is designed to house 400 people but frequently struggles to accommodate thousands.

After a short period of time on the island, most migrants are transferred by ferry boats to other parts of Italy.

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, whose right-wing government includes an anti-migrant party, had enlisted the European Union’s help to forge an accord with Tunisia in a bid to stop the migrant boats in exchange for economic and other aid.

Her efforts have not slowed the arrivals.

The number of migrants arriving by sea in Italy this year was expected to surpass 100,000 on Tuesday.

It is more than double the number in the same period in 2023.

According to the United Nations, an estimated 2,175 people have lost their lives trying to reach Europe by sea this year.