1,600 migrants, toddler s corpse reach Italy

Rome May 9 (IANS/AKI) More than 1 590 migrants arrived in the Italian coastal city of Salerno on Tuesday along with the body a three-year-old child who died during the Mediterranean crossing.

The toddler s corpse arrived aboard a Norwegian rescue vessel which had 990 migrants on board. The child will be buried in a local cemetery officials said.

Among the migrants who landed in Salerno 100 will remain in the surrounding Campania region while the others will be transferred to the northern Italian regions of Lombardy Piedmont Trentino Veneto and Emilia Romagna said the officials.

Earlier on Tuesday an Italian navy vessel docked in Palermo Sicily with more than 600 migrants aboard who were rescued in the Strait of Sicily including many women and children according to the officials.

A total of 41 196 boat migrants reached Italy this year till May 7 while 1 222 perished on the treacherous crossing from North Africa the UN migration agency the International Organisation for Migration said on Tuesday.

The figures compare with 31 214 arrivals and 966 deaths over the same period of 2016.

--IANS/AKI
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