Brussels to provide €14 million for migrant care on Lampedusa

The European Commission has said it will provide €14 million ($15.7 million) to improve reception conditions for migrants arriving on the Italian island of Lampedusa.
Increased numbers of migrants arriving by sea since the beginning of the year have led to "frequent overcrowding situations" on the island, according to the commission press release.
The financial support is to go the United Nation's International Organization of Migration which is to work with Italian authorities and the European Union's asylum agency.
"Priority will be given to vulnerable migrants, in particular unaccompanied minors, pregnant women, single women with small children, and persons with disabilities," the statement said.
The money is to be used for temporary accommodation, clothing, food and primary medical assistance as well as safe transfers from Lampedusa to other reception facilities in Italy.
More than 72,300 people have reached Italy on boats already this year, according to the Interior Ministry in Rome. Around this time last year, the figure was around 30,900.
The high number of arrivals pose a big logistical challenge for Lampedusa.
In late June, more than 3,250 people stayed at the island's reception centre which is designed to house only 400 people, Italian news agency ANSA reported at the time.
Lampedusa is the southernmost island of Italy, with Tunisia being the closest landfall 113 kilometres away.
Many people try repeatedly to reach the islands of Lampedusa, Malta, Sicily or the Italian mainland from northern Africa via the central Mediterranean Sea.