ROME – Concern mounts over increasing numbers of immigrant arrivals-more than a thousand new migrants arrived Thursday in the Eternal City.

 About 50 of the immigrants were brought yesterday in Cara di Castel Nuovo di Porto, while another thousand or so will be brought in the province of Rome. A hundred are said to say in the city center, where reception centers are already overcrowded by 80 percent.

 Due to overcrowded reception centers are overcrowded, a new reception plan has been signed earlier this week, which will enable the use of abandoned barracks to welcome the refugees.  The ex barrack of Civitavecchia De Carolis (already used during the 2011 emergency that followed the Arab Spring) will be available again.

 According to the Sprar programme (System for protection of those requesting asylum and of refugees), there are only about 40 reception centers in Rome, which are already being bombarded with requests.

 Most of the immigrants are from Ghana, Mali, Senegal, and Eritrea, and are all survivors of sea tragedies. “Arriving in Lampedusa is like surviving a plane crash” one immigrant said.

 Many of the refugees will not stay in the Eternal City but will try to reach Milan and then Northern Europe, in the hope of starting a new life in Germany or Sweden.