An immigrant stands in a refugee centre in Lampedusa, Sicily July 8, 2013 REUTERS/Alessandro
A first boat carrying 299 people, more than half of them women and children, was escorted to the port of Syracuse, Sicily, late on Friday. On board was the corpse of one woman who died during the journey.
The people on the boat said they had left from Egypt about a week ago, Ansa said, citing Italian authorities.
Another boat was located overnight carrying 124 others, who also said they were Syrian refugees, and the coast guard escorted it to a Sicilian port early on Saturday, the coast guard said.
From the start of the year to the first week of this month, 21,870 illegal immigrants or refugees have arrived on the shores of southern Italy, three times as many as the same period a year ago, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said recently.
The number of Syrian refugees reaching Italy has increased steadily in recent months and the UN estimates that 3,300 have arrived since the start of August.
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