Palermo (Italy), Aug 5 (IANS/AKI) Around 50 migrants came ashore on Italy's tiny southern island of Lampedusa on Monday, after their boat managed to avoid interception, local officials said.

Mediterranean crossings typically pick up in summer but migrant arrivals have fell by 81 per cent to 3,418 this year till July 24, from 18,000 during the same period of 2018, according to Interior Ministry figures.

Most of the migrants coming ashore in Sicily have either arrived aboard small boats or were intercepted by coastguard and tax police vessels.

--IANS/AKI
vd