Record-setting 2,000 migrants arrive on Italian island in single day

March 25 (UPI) -- More than 2,000 migrants arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa within a 24-hour period, officials said Saturday, setting a new record for arrivals at the well-known destination point.

An Italian official said 1,778 people arrived on the island Friday with another 267 people coming Saturday. Lampedusa is a common landing place for migrants seeking to enter the European Union.

The number of migrants arriving to Italy has more than tripled in the first two months of 2023.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has blamed the rising figure on an unstable political situation in Tunisia, which is approximately 200 miles to the west across the Mediterranean Sea.

"900,000 people will arrive in Italy that Italy cannot welcome," Meloni told the European Council this week, according to CNN, while asking for collaboration with European partners to accept migrants and help block departures from Turkey, Libya and Tunisia.

Charities rescued many of the boats on Saturday but under new rules from Italy's government, those NGO's can face fines for breaking a code of conduct.