Tough situation at Lampedusa hotspot: Italian Red Cross

By Giovanni Legorano

ROME (AA) - The reception center for irregular migrants, or hotspot, on the Italian island of Lampedusa is overwhelmed after more than 100 migrant boats arrived, the Italian Red Cross said Wednesday.

“Some transfers are scheduled for today, but the situation is hard,” the Red Cross said in a statement.

The charity said it is striving to manage the care of more than 6,000 people who are now at the center when the place can handle 800 at a time.

It added that it is focusing on the most vulnerable categories of people.

Still, the Red Cross urged authorities to transfer migrants to other Italian locations to allow them to take care of the migrants on the islands properly.​​​​​​​

Since the beginning of the year, 120,000 reached Italian shores. If the trend continues, arrivals could reach a record number, surpassing the 180,000 arrivals in 2016.

The surge of illegal migration this year, fueled largely by mass departures from Tunisia, is causing problems for the government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who made curbing migrants’ arrivals a key goal of her administration.