Following is a summary of this Reuters article:
More than 6,000 migrants were rescued off the Libyan coast on Monday, and 5,000 were rescued on Tuesday and Wednesday, making the total at the beginning of the week almost 11,000. Also as many as 78 people have died and three women had given birth.
Libya is 180 miles from the Italian island of Lampedusa, and people smugglers have been using the island as their preferred destination for reaching Europe due to it’s closeness.
The latest surge in arrivals means that at least 142,000 have come to Italy since the start of the year, and 3,100 have died while attempting to make the trip. In 2015, 154,000 came to Italy and 2,892 died.
Most of the refugees come from Africa, including Nigeria, Eritrea, Guinea, Gambia, Sudan, Ivory Coast and Somalia.
The migrants are brought to Italy, where they are fingerprinted and identified by EU and Italian officials. Migrants are required to stay in the country were they first enter the bloc, and Italy is becoming overwhelmed by the immigrants. As a result, the European Commission devised a plan last year to move thousands of new migrants to other EU countries, where as many as 40,000 migrants could be relocated from Italy over two years, but so far most countries have been reluctant to accept them.