The body of a newborn baby has
been recovered from a boat carrying migrants during a rescue operation off the
Italian island of Lampedusa.
The mother is thought to
have given birth during the journey from North Africa, the Ansa news agency
says, and the death is being investigated.
More than 8,000 migrants
have arrived in Lampedusa over the past three days.
European Commission head
Ursula von der Leyen is due to visit the island on Sunday after Italy asked for
EU help.
Italian newspaper Corriere
Del Mezzogiorno reports the mother was helped by companions on the small boat
after she started having contractions.
The child's body was later
placed in a white coffin and taken to a cemetery in Lampedusa's Imbriacola
district, it adds.
Earlier this week a
five-month-old baby boy drowned during a rescue operation off the same island,
after a boat carrying migrants across the sea from north Africa capsized.
Italian Prime Minister
Giorgia Meloni said the country was being placed under "unsustainable
pressure" as a result of the migrant influx.
Ms Meloni is pushing for a
European Union naval blockade to prevent boats from crossing the Mediterranean
to reach Italian shores.
The Italian Red Cross has
said it is currently dealing with about 2,500 people at a reception center
designed for 400 arrivals.
Volunteers and staff have
been providing thousands of meals all week and helping transfer new arrivals to
Sicily and elsewhere.
Nearly 126,000 migrants
have arrived in Italy so far this year, which is about double the number for
the same period in 2022.
Ms Meloni said she was
calling on Ms von der Leyen "to personally realize the gravity of the
situation we face" and to "immediately accelerate" the
implementation of an agreement with Tunisia.
The North African country
has become the main departure point for African migrants attempting to reach
Europe.
The EU deal, which was
signed in July, is backed up by €110m ($118m; £90m) of EU cash to stop
smuggling, strengthen borders and return migrants.
The surge in arrivals led
to protests by Lampedusa's residents on Saturday who demonstrated against plans
to build a new tent camp to host the migrants.
"I have two children
at home. In the past years, I did not care about this issue. But now I have an
instinct of protection for my children because I don't know what will happen to
Lampedusa in the future," one of the protesters told the Reuters news
agency.
"Lampedusa says stop!
We don't want tent camps. This message is for Europe and for the Italian
government. Lampedusa residents are tired," another protester said.
0 Comments