Arrivals continue across southern Italy

Rome: Despite the adverse meteorological conditions the number of migrant boat arrivals in Roccella Ionica in the southern region of Calabria continues. The port has registered 5,000 arrivals since the beginning of the year.

The number of migrant arrivals in the port of Roccella Ionica continues, despite the adverse weather conditions at sea. In the last eleven days six differnt boats arrived bringing approximately 500 people from various nationalities to Italy’s southern shores.

By November 2, the small port had registered 5,000 arrivals since the beginning of the year. At the end of a rescue operation at sea off the coast of Calabria by Roccella Ionica’s coast guard, 75 Afghan nationals disembarked.

Among them, there were 30 men, 22 women, 18 children, and one unaccompanied minor. In the course of the morning, the migrants were identified by coast guard officials. This particular group arrived on a small sailing boat and were picked up about 35 miles off the Italian coast.

The boat with migrants on board, according to the migrants’ own account, left the Turkish coast last Saturday. After an initial check by the police authorities and medical staff, the migrants, were brought to temporary lodgings in tents at the port, which are acting as a first emergency and shelter facility.

Just a few days earlier, a boat arrived carrying many women and children on board, in among a total of 80 persons of Afghan and Iranian nationality.

Among the migrants were approximately twenty women and fifteen children, some under the age of three. These migrants were found during the night of October 28 on board a sailing boat around 20 miles off the Italian coast. The migrants on board told Italian officials they had set sail the previous Tuesday, meaning they were at sea for about four days before they reached land.