Since the evening of September 13, the island of Lampedusa has been facing a massive arrival of migrants. The Italian Red Cross estimated that 6,000 people landed in the Italian city in a few hours. The situation in Libya explains this unmanageable influx for the reception center there.
A state of emergency has been declared in Lampedusa. Ansa, the Italian press agency, revealed this while this island saw more than 100 boats and around “6,000” people disembark according to Francesca Basile, head of migration at the Italian Red Cross. The situation is dramatic on site, because the capacity is only 400 places. This chaos partly explains the many different counts of the number of people in Lampedusa.
Antonio Tajani, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, assured X that “with respect for the dignity of every human being, the government will do everything necessary to help the residents of Lampedusa and the migrants who continue to arrive on the island.” He also said Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government continued “to work to stop the arrivals.”
Lampedusa therefore sees its population double since its number of inhabitants is 6,000. The tension of this influx of population is difficult to bear for the Italian Red Cross which has been managing the migrant reception center since last June.
Why such an increase in migrant arrivals in Lampedusa?
The passage of Storm Daniel in the Mediterranean could explain this sudden increase in arrivals in Lampedusa. Migrant crossings from North Africa to Europe mainly leave from Libya. Libyan smuggling networks have been temporarily suspended in the face of deadly weather conditions. After the storm departed towards the Israeli coast, migratory routes were once again accessible.
The central Mediterranean is the deadliest maritime migratory route in the world since 2014 according to SOS Méditerranée. The last 24 hours in Lampedusa have not escaped this sad toll since a five-month-old child died after falling into the water according to Filippo Manninomayor of this Italian island.
A record year 2023 in Italy
The Italian Interior Ministry has counted the deaths of more than 2,000 people during Mediterranean crossings in 2023, including 289 children. The number of arrivals is experiencing a significant peak this year with 118,500 migrants who have landed on the Italian coast since January while over the same period in 2022, this total reached 64,529. The Libyan and Italian coasts are separated by 300 to 400 kilometers . The journey on overcrowded makeshift boats is therefore extremely dangerous.
The migration issue generates significant tensions between the countries of the European Union. Germany has thus confirmed that it is suspending the voluntary reception of asylum seekers from Italy, provided for by European agreements, due to “strong migratory pressure”. In reaction, Giorgia Meloni, Italian Prime Minister, spoke to Italian press agencies: “The problem of relocation is secondary. The question is to stop arrivals in Italy. I still do not see concrete answers. “