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280 African migrants stopped
04/08/2004 20:34 - (SA)
Lampedusa - Another 280 migrants from Africa were on Wednesday intercepted off the tiny southern Italian island of Lampedusa as the wave of illegal immigrants to Europe continued.
Two blind people were among the migrants who tried to reach Europe in rubber dinghies, including one blind woman who said she had been trying to escape the recent violence in Sudan together with her husband and their two children, officials said.
A blind old man was also rescued from a dinghy which sank after the coast guard picked up the passengers.
Meanwhile, the Italian authorities on Wednesday deported about 50 Egyptians back to their home country.
The detention centre in Lampedusa was full to overflowing due to a surge in attempted crossings in recent weeks.
The tiny island, south of Sicily, is often used as an entry point to Europe by illegal immigrants from Africa, Pakistan and the Middle East, up to a thousand of whom have been detained by authorities in recent weeks alone.
About 1 000 people were currently preparing the illegal crossing from North Africa to Italy, according to the authorities.
Officials attribute the rise in illegal migration to a combination of warm weather and calm seas, encouraging traffickers to attempt to cross the Mediterranean. - Sapa-dpa
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