Akhir 27, 1432 H/April 1, 2011, SPA -- Scores of migrants have fled a tent camp in a southern Italian town where they had been transferred from the overcrowded island of Lampedusa, AP reported. The migrants found a hole in a fence surrounding the camp in Manduria and escaped en masse Friday. TV footage and photos showed them running in surrounding fields. Since the start of the year, about 22,000 migrants, mostly Tunisian, have landed in Lampedusa, a tiny island closer to Africa than to mainland Italy, fleeing unrest across North Africa. Many have been transferred to other centers in Italy, including Manduria, a southeastern town where officials have readied a tent camp for around 4,000 migrants. Italy wants the EU to share the burden, and has asked Tunisia to tighten its border patrols.
