Following the deadly attack by a Tunisian perpetrator in Nice last month, the mayor of Lampedusa announced tighter identification procedures for migrants landing on the island. A reported 2,430 migrants travelled to the island in the first six days of November.
Toto' Martello, the mayor of Lampedusa, on November 8 said that the Sicilian island's migrant hosting center has boosted identification procedures with the aid of new devices and additional security personnel.
"After the dramatic events of Nice we have asked to boost controls," said Martello.
"The national government and, in particular, the interior ministry have organized more in-depth and accurate identification measures. Meanwhile, at each arrival, migrants go through careful medical screenings in relation to COVID. It is the right response to give, in the full respect of the rights of each person and of our community."
Brahim Aoussaoui, a 21-year-old Tunisian who killed a man and two women at a church in Nice last month landed at Lampedusa at the end of September, travelling to France at the beginning of October.
2,430 arrived in six days
The mayor went on to say that the new identification procedures will become effective in their entirety soon and that migrants will be transferred from the hosting center to 'quarantine ships' with the "necessary fluidity to avoid overcrowding at the facility."
Martello concluded by thanking police and health officials for "their additional effort over the past few days."
On Sunday afternoon, 27 people reached Lampedusa independently on a small boat in the latest of dozens of landings registered over the past week.
A reported 2,430 migrants reached the island in the first six days of November. Many have already been transferred.
More migrants board quarantine ship
On Sunday a reported 216 migrants of various nationalities boarded the quarantine ship Rhapsody off Lampedusa which was already hosting 434 people who had boarded the boat over the two previous days.
Quarantine ship Suprema is also scheduled to host migrants. It has been docked off Lampedusa for two days.
Officials are trying to empty out the migrant hotspot of Imbriacola which was hosting early on November 9 a total of 667 migrants who had tested negative for coronavirus, 34 who had tested positive and 304 people who still needed to be tested.
Overall, there were 1,005 guests. Police on Sunday night were able to identify 300 guests, officials said.