Lampedusa crisis: Red Cross rush to clear migrant camp ahead of another expected influx

At the height of last week’s surge, migrants climbed the permitter walls, spilling out of the camp and clashing with Italian police, who tried to stop them going into the main town.

Serena Corniglia, a senior official with the Italian Red Cross, said conditions in the camp were extremely difficult a week ago, as volunteers struggled to deal with many thousands of arrivals.

WATCH NOW: Red Cross official says volunteers are struggling

The camp is only designed to cater for around 400 people at a time.

Ms Corniglia told GB News that since the 1st of June, 62,000 migrants had arrived on Italy’s most southerly island.

The Italian government said that, so far this year, more than 130,000 migrants had arrived in Lampedusa and other areas of Italy.

Officials said they expected that number to reach more than 200,000 by the end of the year.

Italian authorities have taken advantage of strong winds in the region since Saturday, allowing them to put more resources onto the island.

One official told GB News that the winds were expected to begin dying down from Wednesday onwards, making conditions in the Mediterranean passable for the migrant boats to start crossing again.

Serena Corniglia said conditions in the Red Cross Lampedusa camp were now much more manageable.

"At the moment we have 155 people inside the centre, so much calmer than last week."

She said: "At one point last week, we had 7000 people inside the centre, a very big number.

"Obviously when you have a lot of people, it's more difficult to give the support, to give food, to give clothing, to give psychological support and health support to all those inside the centre."

The official said that Red Cross staff were using the break in migrant crossings to prepare for fresh arrivals later this week.

"We are preparing urgent kits, with clothing and food to be ready for those arrivals when the weather improves."

At the height of the crisis, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni travelled to the island with European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen to assess the situation.

Von der Leyen announced a 10-point Lampedusa plan, including a possible new EU naval mission in the Mediterranean and faster repatriations of people whose asylum claims have been rejected.