Migrants wait to be transferred to Porto Empedocle from Lampedusa, in Sicily, Monday, Aug. 19, 2019 – Copyright AP Photo/Salvatore Cavalli
Lamorgese said later in a statement that most of them had been “tracked down” and all had tested negative for coronavirus.
But Sicily’s governor, Nello Musumeci, said in a Facebook post that the migration issue was being treated with “improvisation” and “superficiality”, adding that Sicily is not “a colony”.
The migrants reportedly left a tent guarded by a Civil Protection unit in the town of Porto Empedocle, western Sicily, where they were supposed to undergo a 14-day quarantine.
Italy’s Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese has announced plans to send the military to Sicily after around 100 migrants violated quarantine and fled a detention centre there on Monday.
Lamorgese said later in a statement that most of them had been “tracked down” and all had tested negative for coronavirus.
But Sicily’s governor, Nello Musumeci, said in a Facebook post that the migration issue was being treated with “improvisation” and “superficiality”, adding that Sicily is not “a colony”.
The migrants reportedly left a tent guarded by a Civil Protection unit in the town of Porto Empedocle, western Sicily, where they were supposed to undergo a 14-day quarantine.
The facility was hosting 500 migrants despite having the capacity for just 100, AFP cited Italian media as saying.
The incident comes after 184 migrants — all of whom tested negative for COVID-19 as well — fled another detention centre in Caltanissetta, Sicily on Sunday.
Foreign minister Luigi Di Maio said 125 of them have been found but expressed concerns that such incidents may hamper Italy’s efforts to control the coronavirus crisis.
“The virus has not gone. Italian citizens, just like me, need to keep abiding by the rules that we set ourselves, and the same stands for tourists and those entitled to international protection,” he said.
