Rome, 18 September 2023 (dpa/MIA) - A migrant reception centre on the Italian island of Sicily was the site of chaotic scenes on Monday, with about a hundred migrants leaving the camp, as they climbed over fences and broke through barriers, according to media reports.

Emergency forces tried unsuccessfully to stop the migrants. The mayor of the southern port city of Porto Empedocle said the migrants were breaking out of the camp because of its poor conditions.

"They did not run away to go to other places, but to look for food and drink," Mayor Calogero Martello told the news website RaiNews.

He called the camp's conditions inhumane and demanded support from the government in Rome.

With thousands of people arriving on the Italian island Lampedusa last week, more than 1,000 were sent to the Sicilian camp for several days.

Porto Empedocle is considered a transit point with migrants coming from overcrowded Lampedusa to be sent to yet other cities after their Sicilian stay.

The camp is currently overcrowded because transfer to the mainland is proceeding slowly, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.

Photo: EPA