
A migrant reception center in Italy’s southernmost island of Lampedusa was overwhelmed Thursday as it coped with transferring to the mainland thousands of migrants who arrived on small, unseaworthy boats in a 24-hour span this week.
The Red Cross said 4,200 migrants remained at the center of the 6,800 who had swamped the tiny tourist and fishing island in a flotilla of some 120 boats arriving from Tunisia. Transfers to the mainland were ongoing.