Earlier on Saturday, the Italian news agency Ansa reported that the Italian Coast Guard had found a newborn baby dead in a boat that had transported about 40 migrants to Lampedusa.
EUROPEAN chairman of the commission Ursula von der Leyen will visit the Italian island of Lampedusa this weekend together with the country’s prime minister by Giorgia Meloni with, says news agency AFP.
Meloni has previously asked the European Union for help to curb the flow of migrants arriving in Italy from North Africa.
This year, almost 126,000 migrants have arrived in Italy, which is almost double the number compared to the same time last year, reports the Reuters news agency.
In particular, a large number of migrants have arrived on Lampedusa recently, as the island is located in the Mediterranean Sea approximately 145 kilometers from the coast of Tunisia. According to Reuters, about 7,000 people have arrived on the island in the past week, which is more than the island’s permanent population.
Previously Italian on Saturday news agency Ansa said the Italian coast guard had found a newborn baby dead on a boat that had been carrying about 40 migrants to Lampedusa.
According to Ansa, the baby was born during the trip and died shortly after birth.
Earlier this week, a five-month-old baby was said to have drowned when a boat carrying migrants from North Africa capsized near Lampedusa, Reuters reports.
Thousands of migrants trying to reach Europe have drowned in the Mediterranean. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), over the past ten years, around 28,000 migrants have drowned in the Mediterranean or disappeared on their way.
#Mediterranean #Von #der #Leyen #visits #island #Lampedusa #threatened #migrant #crisis