Thousands of refugees arriving on island

>> YOUR LINK HERE: ___ http://youtube.com/watch?v=i886ByAUL3w

(1 Jul 2004) SHOTLIST • 1. Tourists getting off plane at Lampedusa airport • 2. Tourist • 3. Tourist boat off Lampedusa • 4. Tourists and umbrellas on beach • 5. Coast Guard ship arriving illegal immigrants at night • 6. Illegal immigrants getting off Coast Guard boat • 7. Illegal immigrants sitting on dock • 8. Illegal immigrants taken off van into holding centre on island • 9. Holding centre for illegal immigrants on Lampedusa • 10. European flag over barbed wire at holding centre • 11. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Bruno Siragusa, Mayor of Lampedusa: • The crafts are intercepted far out at sea with helicopters or noticed by fishing boats, and are reached by the Coast Guard, the illegal • immigrants are taken on board and transported to our port on a militarised dock and from there with vans they are transferred to a • temporary holding centre. • 12. Graveyard of wrecked boats used by immigrants in Lampedusa port • 13. Half-sunk boat • 14. Cap with Sri Lanka written on it • 15. Pan rubber raft/dinghy with shoes floating in water inside • 16. Shoes in deserted dinghy • 17. Fishing boats in Lampedusa harbour • 18. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Pino Mannino, fisherman: • Lampedusa is the mother of all illegal immigrants. • 19. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Francesco Mannino, fisherman: • Often we fishermen tow them sometimes towards the island. • 20. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Pino Mannino, fisherman: • And so they all come here. • 21. Cutaway fisherman's net with anchor • 22. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Pino Mannino, fisherman: • There are some fishing boats at 70 to 80 miles working out of Lampedusa. So the fishing boat alerts the Coast Guard and says: 'Look, there is a boat of illegal immigrants that is heading for Lampedusa.' The Coast Guard heads out 70-80 miles, sometimes 90 miles, they leave here and they go get them and they bring them here. • 23 Port of Lampedusa • STORYLINE: • The tiny Italian island of Lampedusa survives on tourism and visitors who fly to the southernmost point of Italy for the stunning rocky coastline and clear turquoise waters. • But tourism is not the only booming industry in Lampedusa. Thousands of impoverished refugees from Africa, the Middle East and Asia use the nearby port to dock their rickety boats and rubber rafts. • A desolate, treeless strip of an island just 9 kilometres (4 miles) long, Lampedusa is closer to Africa than Italy -- just 138 kilometres (220 miles), a few days away by boat and some drown in the attempt. • The influx is a problem for Lampedusa, and officials here attempt to keep the refugees at bay so they can maintain the tourist trade. • The Italian military patrols the skies while the Italian coast guard ships patrol the waters, searching for boats of illegal immigrants. • Once spotted in international waters, Italian authorities send out a ship to take the immigrants aboard and bring them to Lampedusa. • Coast Guard officials in Lampedusa say they have brought 5000 illegal immigrants ashore so far this year. • In 2002 and 2003, more than 28-thousand illegal immigrants arrived on Lampedusa and -- after being housed on the island temporarily -- they were flown to Southern Italy, where they could apply for asylum. • Bruno Siragusa, the Mayor of Lampedusa, is satisfied with this system but others aren't so comfortable with the arrangements. • Other European countries have complained that Italy lets in too many illegal immigrants who then travel up into Germany, Holland • and other northern Europe. • Immigrants who do not receive asylum often disappear in northern Europe or make do with odd jobs from pumping gas to cleaning car windows. • • Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork • Twitter: / ap_archive • Facebook: / aparchives • Instagram: / apnews • • • You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...

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