Bad weather has brought more distress and death in Lampedusa. On Saturday, August 5, at least 30 migrants hoping to reach the small Italian island disappeared when two boats sank, according to accounts gathered by the authorities from the 57 survivors of the wreck.

The Italian coastguards who rescued the migrants using two launches assisted by helicopters announced that they had found the lifeless bodies of a woman and a two-year-old child. Pictures of the operation published on Sunday showed the difficulties encountered in rescuing those who were shipwrecked, who went adrift in two small metal boats battered by the waves.

Deteriorating weather conditions also contributed to a critical situation on the west side of the island itself. Thirty-four shipwreck victims, including two pregnant women, were trapped under a cliff for almost 48 hours between rough seas and a steep rock face where their boat had run aground. Waves and strong winds had prevented any rescue operation by air or sea until Sunday when they were evacuated by helicopter by teams of rescuers who had arrived that morning from Sicily.

Since Friday, almost 2,600 migrants have made it to Lampedusa, with arrivals continuing at a steady pace since June. The focus of the tragedy on the island is a reception center where migrants transit before being sent to the mainland. The center is reaching its saturation point as bad weather has stalled evacuation operations.

The Italian Red Cross, which has managed the center since May, has said it is designed to house 600 people but now accommodates almost 2,500 in its emergency shelters, including the survivors of Saturday’s shipwreck. "With the exception of two people who have been hospitalized, the physical health of the survivors is improving," said Ignazio Schintu, deputy secretary of the Italian Red Cross, who was contacted by telephone in Lampedusa. "Our teams are now talking to them to piece together the sequence of events and understand what caused these deadly shipwrecks," he added.

A police investigation has also been opened in Agrigento, Sicily. Pointing to the forecast bad weather, Emmanuele Ricifarivchef of the town’s police force, who was quoted in the Italian press, said: "Those who allowed them to leave, or forced them to leave, are unscrupulous criminal lunatics."

The dead, the missing and the survivors of the last few days are the latest victims on the new migratory route that has emerged this year between the Sfax region of Tunisia and Lampedusa, less than 140 kilometers from the African coast.

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