The region of Sicilyin southern Italy, is overwhelmed after in the last 24 hours they have arrived more than 3,000 migrants to the ports of lampedusathe closest island to the African coast, and Porto Empedoclewhere the Astral sailboat of the Spanish NGO Open Arms has just docked.

He Astral has been able to land on European territory at 59 people rescued on the sailboat, equipped to assist boats but not for long journeys, after asking the Italian government to will assign a port “urgently” since at first they were ordered to go to Tunisia.

“Tunisia cannot be considered a safe harbor disembarkation”, publicly protested the NGO, which after the rescue had to evacuate a pregnant woman on the high seas with the help of the Maltese authorities.

Porto Empedocle, located in the south of the island of Sicily, plans to receive more than 1,000 migrantssince those rescued by Open Arms will be joined by the more than 370 people who will arrive there after being rescued by the Ocean Viking ship, of the Franco-German NGO Sos Mediterranée.

The crew of the ocean viking claims to have rescued 623 people in 15 rescue operations executed in the last two days, since the situation in the central Mediterranean is dramatic with dozens of boats trying to reach the European coasts.

“Among the survivors are 15 children, 146 unaccompanied minors and 462 adults, all now safe and cared for aboard the Ocean Viking. The main nationalities are Sudan, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Benin and Bangladesh,” the NGO reported on its social networks.

2,600 migrants in a center with a capacity for 400

The Italian authorities have ordered that half of the passengers arrive on the island of Lampedusa, the southernmost in the Sicilian region, and the rest be disembarked in Civitavecchia, in central Italy and a few kilometers from Rome.

From Lampedusa, however, they will have to be transferred to Porto Empedocle by the Italian coast guards, since the facilities in their port are not enough, with 2,600 migrants in a reception center with a capacity for 400.

In addition to the people rescued by the humanitarian ships, other groups of migrants manage to arrive by their own means, on the last night they were 380 people aboard 13 boats.

Other humanitarian ships are in the Mediterranean providing aid: the German MareGO rescued 46 migrants; he Life Supportt, from the Italian NGO Emergency, saved 76 people near Malta; and the humanity 1 travels with 100 passengers rescued in various operations.

Likewise, the Spanish ship open arms has set sail again to complete new rescues.

This Thursday, the Pope Francisco asked the world “not to remain indifferent” to “tragedies” like the last shipwreck that occurred in the Central Mediterranean, in which 41 people died when the fragile boat in which they were traveling from the Tunisian town of Sfax capsized.

After the shipwreck, the UN requested “coordinated search and rescue mechanisms and safe and legal pathways for migration and asylum”, after recalling that “just a few days ago a mother and child had already lost their lives” in front of Lampedusa.

According to the latest data from the Italian Ministry of the Interior, so far this year almost 94,000 migrants have disembarked on the Italian coasts, more than double the close to 45,000 of the same period of the previous year.