On Saturday (August 12), a total of 718 people reached the small Italian island of Lampedusa on 27 boats.
A day later, another 270 people were intercepted and taken ashore by the Italian coastguard in six vessels, according to German news agency dpa. The Associated Press (AP) said the number of arrivals on Sunday was actually closer to 400.
In total, more than 60 boats reached Italian soil over the weekend, according to AP, including a number of boats reaching smaller islands such as Pantelleria, where 250 migrants managed to set foot without need of rescue on Saturday, and Marettimo, a remote fishing island off western Sicily.
The Italian coast guard meanwhile also recovered a man’s body from a shipwreck near Marettimo, according to Italian state TV, while another person from the same shipwreck was declared missing.
According to Italy’s ANSA news agency, the migrants arriving in Italy at the weekend had traveled from Congo, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Guinea, Nigeria, Senegal and Mali.
They were all reported to have departed from the Tunisian coastal towns of Sfax, Gabes and Mahdia, located at least 130 kilometers west of Lampedusa, said dpa.
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Meanwhile, the private Ocean Viking NGO rescue vessel saved 623 lives during 15 operations within 48 hours, according to its parent organization, SOS Mediterranee.
There were 15 children and 146 unaccompanied minors in the group, the organization added, highlighting that the migrants and refugees came from Sudan, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Benin and Bangladesh.
Most of those rescues reportedly took place between Sfax and Lampedusa, according to a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter.
While some of those rescued were allowed to leave the ship on Lampedusa, more than half disembarked in Sicily as part of a coordinated effort with Italian authorities.
Ocean Viking crew members meanwhile also recovered a body from a shipwreck off the western coast of Sicily.