More migrants arriving in Sicily from Tunisia

Up to 35 migrants sailing from Tunisia to Italy were missing on Tuesday after the boat they were travelling in capsized, Italian port authorities were quoted by ANSA news agency as saying.The report, which said the boat capsized on Monday shortly after departing from the port of Zarzis in southern Tunisia, came as hundreds of mostly Tunisian migrants landed on the Italian island of Lampedusa.ANSA said 12 boats carrying 816 migrants have arrived in the past few hours.

Around 1,000 refugees from Libya and Tunisia arrived on several boats on the Italian islands of Sicily and Lampedusa early Tuesday, the Italian coast guard said.The first group of around 500 arrived on a 35-metre (115 foot) fishing boat which washed up on the rocks soon after midnight on the southern coast of Sicily.The immigrants, mostly Eritreans and Somalis fleeing unrest in Libya, were transferred to safety in small craft, the coast guard said.

Around 1,000 refugees from Libya and Tunisia arrived on several boats on the Italian islands of Sicily and Lampedusa early Tuesday, the Italian coast guard said.The first group of around 500 arrived on a 35-metre (115 foot) fishing boat which washed up on the rocks soon after midnight on the southern coast of Sicily.The immigrants, mostly Eritreans and Somalis fleeing unrest in Libya, were transferred to safety in small craft, the coast guard said.

About 130 migrants from Tunisia arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa on Monday, raising the total over the last three days to nearly 200, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said.

Tunisian immigrants clinging to small fishing boats landed in Italy on Sunday, as the Italian government appealed for EU aid and said it wanted to deploy its security forces in Tunisia.Hundreds arrived on the island of Lampedusa, Italy's southernmost point, bringing to more than 5,000 the total number of undocumented immigrants intercepted by coast guards and brought to the tiny outcrop.

Twenty four-year old Lassad, one of the thousands of Tunisians sleeping rough at the port on the tiny island of Lampedusa south of Sicily, is desperate to get off the overcrowded island and start a new life."Help us! We cannot bear waiting any longer without knowing what's going to happen to us," the young man, his face weather-beaten, told AFP in French."We just want to work. Leaving here is the only thing we think about," he said, gesturing to his 20-year old brother Ali, who nodded in agreement.

Nearly 350 Tunisians arrived overnight on the Italian island of Lampedusa, local officials said Wednesday, after a week in which poor weather had interrupted the flow of people fleeing the country.

Two boats with 600 migrants, including Eritreans and Somalians fleeing Libya, arrived Tuesday at Lampedusa island which Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has promised to evacuate, Italian media said.