More than 1,200 migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa and Syria, arrived in Sicily today, after having been picked up in the Mediterranean, the Italian coastguard said.
Most of the migrants, including 133 women and 27 children, arrived in Palermo after being picked up off the Libyan coast by the Norwegian cargo ship Siem Pilot, which is part of a voluntary EU border security operation.
Another 468 were taken to the southeastern Sicilian town of Pozzallo aboard the Irish navy patrol ship LÉ Niamh.
Italy and Greece have been hard pressed to handle a massive increase in migrants fleeing conflicts and poverty in Africa and the Middle East.
More than 1,900 migrants have died this year making the perilous journey across the Mediterranean to Europe, out of around 150,000 people who have made the crossing, the International Organization for Migration said earlier this month.
Migrants cause long delays at Eurotunnel
Meanwhile, Eurotunnel said today it was working to reduce delays for trains crossing the Channel Tunnel caused by migrants attempting to stow away on lorries entering Britain.
A Eurotunnel spokesman said migrants had breached fences at the terminal in Calais, France, last night, causing the company to briefly suspend trains as the migrants approached the tracks.
Disruption on the crossing has become a regular occurrence as some 5,000 migrants, mostly from Africa and the Middle East and camped around the northern French port, attempt to board train and ferry services to Britain.
"We had massed attacks by migrants trying to get through the fence onto tracks and onto trains," the spokesman said.
"We had some significant delays early on, but we are now down to 30 minutes before check-in and a one hour wait on site."
Freight traffic from Britain to France was already facing long delays after a strike by French ferry workers earlier in the week.
"Attacks on our site are nightly," the spokesman said. "They are simply overwhelming the police forces in Calais.
Industry body Freight Transport Association told the BBC it estimated the delays were costing the British freight industry £750,000 pounds a day in lost productivity.
Eurostar passenger rail services between London and continental Europe, which do not operate during the night, were running as normal today, according to its website.
