GB News' Mark White has warned that a second surge of Lampedusa migrants will 'overwhelm' the Italian island, after more than 12,000 people made the crossing from Africa.
Speaking on Britain's Newsroom, the GB News Home and Security Editor shared the latest update on the crisis live from the island.
White said: "Well placed sources are telling us that more migrant boats are expected to arrive in Lampedusa from tomorrow. Really the last migrant boats that made it to this Italian island, the closest Italian island to Tunisia, was on Thursday of last week when 75 people arrived in a boat. And then the winds picked up. And really, for the past now, more than a week, the winds have been blowing across this stretch of the Mediterranean, making it impassible.
"That's given the authorities time actually to clear the decks to get reinforcements in the way of extra police officers from around Italy. Also Red Cross volunteers arriving on the island, and the last of those 11,000 migrants who arrived here in a five day period, just a week before last have now left the island.
White continued: "They left on Wednesday evening, 101 of those migrants mainly from sub-Saharan Africa. So the decks have been cleared. They are as prepared as they can be, and it will just depend on what we see. If we see a surge, as we saw in recent days and weeks, then it will overwhelm this island again.
"The hope is that, you know, it is of a magnitude significantly less than that and that the authorities are able to cope with them. But as I say, the breaking news that we've been given from well placed sources is that the first of those boats are expected to arrive on this island on Friday."
Watch Mark White's report in full above.
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