Lampedusa was under serious pressure on Saturday following the arrival on the island of a record 1,918 people in 65 landings on Friday and a further 1,116 people in 29 landings since midnight on Saturday.
The figures for Saturday are updated to 4.30 pm local time. Some of the arrivals had been rescued or intercepted by Italian authorities and accompanied to shore, while others landed autonomously.
At mid-morning on Saturday there were said to be 4,121 migrants and refugees in the Lampedusa hotspot, ten times the formal capacity of around 400, although following a recent reorganisation by the new Italian Red Cross management the facility can now actually handle many more on a temporary basis.
By early afternoon, following the transfer of 721 people by passenger ferry to Porto Empedocle on mainland Sicily, the situation had improved slightly, with 3,372 people including 249 unaccompanied minors at the facility in Contrada Imbriacola.
Further transfers were also scheduled for later in the day: 170 by navy ship to Augusta, 140 by two military aircraft to Comiso; and 100 by passenger ferry to Porto Empedolcle.
However, capacity at the mainland port was also reported to be under strain, also due to the lack of busses to take migrants and refugees transferred off Lampedusa to reception facilities in other parts of the country.
