Hundreds of would-be immigrants reached Italy illegally Wednesday after crossing the Mediterranean Sea aboard several boarts, according to DPA. One such boat, carrying about 180 people, landed on the tiny island of Lampedusa shortly after lunchtime. The landing came just hours after another boat loaded with 177 people had reached the island. Coast guard officials were braced for the arrival of yet more immigrants following the sighting of two more boats off the Sicilian island. Thousands of asylum-seekers reach Italy in this way each year and those who are intercepted by police are usually sent back to their country of origins. Italy's coast guard says it has rescued more than 15,000 immigrants at sea during the course of 2005 alone.
