Italian island struggles as migrant surge doubles populationThu, 14 Sep 2023 13:09:36 GMT
The tiny Italian island of Lampedusa struggled Thursday to cope with a surge in migrant boats from North Africa after numbers peaked at 7,000 people — equivalent to the entire local population.The local reception centre, built to house fewer than 400 people, was overwhelmed with men, women and children forced to sleep outside on makeshift …