Over 1,000 migrants arrive on Italian island

By Nathan Morley

According to reports, several hundred more migrants reached Lampedusa before dawn on Monday. They follow more than 1,400 who arrived on Sunday -- the largest number of migrants to come ashore in a single day.

Many people reportedly slept on mattresses outside Lampedusa's busy migrant housing centre. Others were transferred to an unused ferry offshore for quarantine until they can be tested for the Coronavirus.

At the same time, boats were spotted off the coast of Malta, with the charity Alarm Phone saying they needed assistance.

In all, over 500,000 migrants have reached Italian shores since the beginning of 2015, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Figures show that between 1 January and 21 April 2021, 8,604 people arrived in Italy and 65 in Malta, while 359 died en route.

People traffickers take advantage of calm seas to launch un-seaworthy boats toward the European coastline.

Elsewhere, at least five people - including a woman and a child - drowned when a boat carrying around 45 migrants capsized off Libya.

The wreck was the latest disaster involving migrants seeking a better life in the West.