300 Tunisians arrive on Italian isle

Boats carrying about 300 Tunisians arrived in southern Italy overnight Friday and Saturday as the flow of immigrants to the southernmost tip of Lampedusa showed no signs of halting. Thousands of people, mainly those fleeing upheavals in Tunisia and Libya, have sailed to the Mediterranean island this year. The Italian coastguard escorted a vessel with 200 on board towards the island on Saturday, while two boats carrying about a hundred arrived overnight Friday. Customs officers also said one of their planes had detected two other boats off the coast carrying about 200 immigrants. Authorities said the number staying at an emergency welcome centre on the isle was at about 1,000. Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said this week he was not concerned about the upturn in the number of arrivals from Tunisia, saying an agreement signed by the two countries earlier this year to prevent Italy-bound departures was effective. The accord, also involving the repatriation of illegal immigrants arriving on Italian soil, saw the number of arrivals drop. Italy has seen an increase in the number of immigrants from Sub-Saharan Africa fleeing conflict-torn Libya however. Between Tunisia and Libya more than 48,000 people have arrived in southern Italy, primarily Lampedusa, since the start of the year. Dutch lawmaker Tineke Strik said about 2,000 immigrants have died of hunger or thirst, or have drowned, while making their way across the Mediterranean.