The Ministry of the Interior has chartered a ferry, the Pietro Novelli, which will shuttle,
3 times a week
, to transfer the migrants guests of the hotspot. "This was announced, immediately after meeting the Minister of the Interior Luciana Lamorgese, the mayor of Lampedusa Filippo Mannino The administrator, who took office in mid-June, in recent days had asked the Prefecture of Agrigento and the Ministry of the Interior to prepare a humanitarian ship for the whole summer period.
"With a humanitarian ship, as happened with quarantine ships, we will be able to buffer, at least during the summer - Mannino explained - the overcrowding of the reception structure. perennial hotspot emergency ".
And so it actually was.
The Pietro Novelli ferry will remain in service, 3 times a week, for the entire month of August and September.
It should embark, for each trip, about 500 people.
The ferry, which in the past has already made the shuttle to transfer tourists and goods between Porto Empedocle and the Pelagie islands, is already in Lampedusa.
And the
200 migrants
who, escorted by the police, left the hotspot in the Imbriacola district are about to be boarded.
The ferry, in this first transfer to Mazara del Vallo (Trapani), is loading only 200 people, and not the 500 or so that it should load on each trip.
The "Diciotti" ship to Lampedusa to embark 600 migrants
The coast guard patrol boat Diciotti is on its way to Lampedusa and, in the evening, should embark another 600 guests from the hotspot in the Imbriacola district.
On the other hand, about a hundred migrants boarded the scheduled ferries.
The Prefecture of Agrigento has been working on the urgent transfer plan all day, in agreement with the Interior Ministry.
"By late evening, weather conditions permitting, about 900 migrants will leave the first reception facility and the island - explained Mayor Filippo Mannino immediately after meeting with the Interior Ministry
Luciana Lamorgese .
- I thank the minister for having accepted the administration's request to ensure, in this way, rapid and continuous transfers ". Mannino with the head of the Interior Ministry also spoke about the structural, organizational and financial problems of the Municipality." The minister showed ample willingness to give us a helping hand, compatibly with the ongoing government crisis ".