The region of Sicily, in southern Italy, is overwhelmed after more than 3,000 migrants have arrived in the last 24 hours at the ports of Lampedusa, the closest island to the African coast, and Porto Empedocle, where it has just dock the Astral sailboat of the Spanish NGO Open Arms.

The Astral has been able to disembark in European territory the 59 people rescued on the sailboat, equipped to assist boats but not for long journeys, after asking the Italian Government to assign it a port “urgently” since at first they were ordered to go to Tunis.

“Tunisia cannot be considered a safe landing port,” 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 migrants today, since 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 Ocean Viking crew claims to have rescued 623 people in 15 rescue operations carried out in the last two days, since the situation in the central Mediterranean is dramatic with dozens of boats trying to reach European coasts.

“Among the survivors there are 15 children, 146 unaccompanied minors and 462 adults, all now safe and cared for on board Ocean Viking. The main nationalities are Sudanese, Guinean, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Benin and Bangladesh,” reported the NGOs on their social networks.

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 guard, since the facilities in its port are not enough, with 2,600 migrants in a reception center with a capacity for 400.

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

Other humanitarian ships are in the Mediterranean providing aid: the German MareGO rescued 46 migrants; Life Supportt, from the Italian NGO Emergency, saved 76 people near Malta; and Humanity 1 travels with 100 passengers rescued in various operations. Likewise, the Spanish ship Open Arms has set sail again to complete new rescues.

According to the latest data from the Italian Ministry of the Interior, so far this year almost 94,000 migrants have landed on Italian shores, more than double the nearly 45,000 in the same period last year.

The 15 rescue operations carried out by the Ocean Viking before entering port represent a new scenario compared to what has happened up to now. The controversial Piantedosi decree definitively approved last February asked the NGO ships to carry out a single rescue and then immediately set course for the port of unloading indicated by the Ministry of the Interior.

In recent months, migrants have repeatedly been directed to ports far from the point of rescue (La Spezia, Livorno, Ravenna…). The declared intention was to limit the action of humanitarian organizations, considered by the Government as a focus of attraction for migrant boats. Only in the case of emergency situations, NGOs can carry out multiple rescues but in coordination with the national authorities. And that is what has happened in the last hours

The latest report from Frontex, the EU agency for border control, reports that the passages on the central Mediterranean route (the one heading to Italy) have increased by 115% while all the others are decreasing.

In this context, the government response has also changed. According to Corriere della Sera, there has been an “armistice”, provided for in that decree, and NGOs can carry out more rescues before heading to port. Rescues – as Ocean Viking has done – are also completed in Malta’s area of ??jurisdiction. This country did not sign the 1979 agreement that regulates the search and rescue of vessels in difficulties because it considered that the area of ??competence assigned to it was too large for the capabilities of the island.