Almost 1,000 migrants have arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa within 24 hours, the Italian news agency ANSA reported today.

A total of 974 people, among them many children, arrived on the island in 26 boats, the same source clarified, while adding that other boats are expected today.

After the weekend, the island’s immigrant reception center is overcrowded. The center is designed to accommodate fewer than 400 people and already 1,883 have arrived there.

Two dead near Malta – 25 people rescued

Meanwhile, the German aid organization ResQship announced that it recovered two bodies during a rescue operation yesterday in international waters, near Malta. The organization pointed out that it rescued 25 people from the sea on the ship Nadir and took them to Lampedusa.

According to those rescued, the boat they were on encountered problems and sank on the night of Saturday to Sunday. Among those rescued were men, women and children from Ivory Coast, Mali and Cameroon, according to the Nadir’s captain.

As the Italian Ministry of the Interior has pointed out, since the beginning of the year more than 28,000 people have arrived in Italy, four times the number compared to the same period last year, when more than 6,900 migrant arrivals were recorded.