Group of 640 land in Pozzallo, 590 and corpse in Reggio Calabria
POZZALLO 17 March 2016
(ANSA) - Pozzallo, March 17 - Italy is set to have to manage over 2,000 new asylum seekers after two big groups arrived late on Wednesday, with two others set to land Thursday.
Some 640 migrants landed in the Sicilian port of Pozzallo after being rescued by a German navy ship while trying to reach Italy aboard five dinghies, one of which was sinking.
Two suspected human traffickers have been detained. The Italian coast guard rescued and took to the southern island of Lampedusa 270 people, including around 50 women and many children.
They mostly come from Mali, Cameroon, Nigeria, Congo, Guinea and there is also an entire family of Eritreans.
One of the asylum seekers got a warm welcome from a Lazio fan who was among the volunteers assisting, after arriving wearing a shirt of Rome's sky blues. An Italian Navy ship, meanwhile, is set to arrive in Reggio Calabria on Thursday with 590 rescued migrants abroad and the body of someone who died during the voyage.
Another 594 people rescued from a migrant boat near the Libyan coast will arrived in the Sicilian port of Messina aboard a coast guard ship.
That ship is also carrying two corpses.
Received on Thu Mar 17 2016 - 06:26:07 EDT