"It is an unmanageable situation. If the government does not proclaim the state of emergency for Lampedusa I will do it. The hotspot is no longer able to accommodate migrants, the responsibility for this emergency cannot fall on the mayor, the municipal administration and the Lampedusans ". So the mayor of Lampedusa Totò Martello comments on the latest barrage of landings on the island (three more in the last few hours) and the situation in the island's hotspot where there are now over a thousand migrants, ten times the maximum capacity expected.
"Today there will be no ferry transfers to Porto Empedocle - underlines the mayor - and meanwhile the boats from Tunisia are continuing to land on the island". At this moment, about fifty migrants are still waiting on the quay to decide where they will be sorted.
Seven small boats were blocked tonight in the waters in front of Lampedusa, there were a total of 203 Tunisians on board. There are currently 1,027 migrants on the island. A group, the latest arrivals, were not even brought to the hotspot which is now in full emergency, but was held under the gazebo of the Favarolo pier. There is no more space, in fact, in the very first reception structure: neither in the only pavilion that has remained operational, which can accommodate a maximum of 95 people, nor in the courtyard. The first consequence of the tilted structure is that the policemen on duty at the hotspot find it difficult to identify those who land. During the night, the patrol boats of the Coast Guard and the Guardia di Finanza have sighted and docked boats with a minimum of 15 people and a maximum of 55.