LAMPEDUSA – A six-month old baby died at a migrant reception centre in Sicily, charities said. The child had arrived in good health with its mother but died suddenly of unknown causes on Sunday. On the same weekend, two ships attempting to cross the Mediterranean sank, with one person killed and several missing.

 Doctors were looking into the unforeseen death of the baby at the Lampedusa migrant reception centre. Either a congenital issue or a sudden illness was the presumed cause.

 The Sicilian hotspot for suspected asylum seekers was under serious strain, housing 700 guests while its maximum capacity stands at only 350. 

 Arrivals peaked over the weekend, when charities rescued scores of migrants from two separate shipwrecks. After one of the failed crossings, two brothers, aged six months and seven years-old, were left unaccounted for, along with two other migrants who were also onboard. They had set sail from Sfax in Tunisia, with a further 32 people who were saved by the coastguard. 

 Later that day, rescuers came to the aid of 31 migrants and recovered a body when a second boat capsized. In that case roughly five people were recorded as missing.

 On Sunday evening, the German registered NGO ship Humanity 1 took onboard 103 migrants who were found on an overcrowded rubber dinghy by the Louise Michel, a feminist, anti-racist, all-vegan rescue vessel that also sails under a German flag.

 es