(AP) With the help of a local fishing boat, hundreds of migrants were transferred on Saturday to a ferry from a tiny Italian island to relieve severe overcrowding during the pandemic at a residence for asylum-seekers.
After their transfer on Saturday, they must spend 14 days in precautionary quarantine on the ferry. The vessel was one of several chartered by the Italian government, after Lampedusa’s mayor and Sicily’s governor complained about the risk of spreading COVID-19.
After so many migrants arrived this summer, some of them rescued at sea, others reaching the island’s shores without help, Lampedusa’s migrant center held 2,000 people despite a capacity of less than 200.
Lampedusa Mayor Salvatore Martello said 752 migrants were transferred.
