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2,700 men, women and children have arrived in Lampedusa in five days
Many were rescued from rickety boats sailing to Europe from lawless Libya
Among them are Syrians and Libyans fleeing ISIS terrorists in their country
Others fled poverty, violence or religious oppression in African nations
They reached the island by paying huge sums to people-smuggling gangs

Published: 01:35 GMT, 20 February 2015 | Updated: 09:40 GMT, 20 February 2015

On a tiny Mediterranean island migrants wander in the streets, beg for oranges at the vegetable store, and knock on the door of the Roman Catholic church to ask the priest for shelter.

These are the pitiful scenes in Italy’s Lampedusa where 2,700 men, women and children have arrived in five days after being rescued from rickety boats sailing to Europe from lawless Libya.

Some are wrapped in charity blankets to keep out the cold. A few build fires on the beach to huddle around at night or sleep in the sand dunes.

Tide of misery: Migrants outside the reception centre on Lampedusa. Numbers have swollen dramatically as Libya descends into chaos

Escape: Young men break through a fence at the Mediterranean island's migrant centre

Not far from the official migrant reception centre – where all beds are filled – families with children do their washing in the open air and hang it out to dry.

Among them are Syrians and Libyans escaping the terrifying stranglehold of Islamic State terrorists in their country.

Others have fled poverty, violence or religious oppression in Somalia, Eritrea, the Sudan, Nigeria, the Gambia, and Ethiopia.

Yet these desperate souls all have something in common. They have reached Lampedusa, Europe’s southern-most point, by paying huge sums to people smuggling gangs for a place on an overcrowded boat from a Libyan port.

The lucrative trade in human beings is thought to be controlled by, and financing, the flourishing Islamic State terror cells in Libya.

Italy has warned of the ‘grave danger’ of IS building a foothold on Libya’s coast – 180 miles across the Mediterranean from Lampedusa – from where it could attack Europe.

Italy’s foreign minister Paolo Gentiloni said this week that ‘time is running out’ for EU countries to forge a ‘robust response’ to the threat from just across the sea.

In a further terrifying twist, European intelligence agencies believe that among the migrants waiting in Lampedusa are IS terrorists infiltrating Europe by the back-door by pretending to be refugees.

Migrants walk at the harbour after they left the immigration centre on the southern Italian island of Lampedusa

2,700 men, women and children have arrived in five days after being rescued from rickety boats sailing to Europe from lawless Libya

Lampedusa has long been a target for illegal migrants wanting a new life in Europe. Last year, 3,500 drowned making the attempt to sail from Libya.

And earlier this month, another 300 died when their dinghies sank in high seas during the perilous journey. In the first nine months of 2014 alone, 140,000 slipped into Italy, the vast majority through Lampedusa.

Today authorities on the island are struggling to cope. The migrants are gradually being flown off the island to holding centres in nearby Sicily and mainland Italy.

But soon more boats are expected to arrive. As Libya descends into lawless chaos, the United Nations’ Refugee Agency (UNHCR) says the smuggling networks bringing them in now operate with impunity.

This week, an Italian official added that conditions at the reception centre on Lampedusa were ‘getting desperate’. It has accommodation for only 400 but 1,000 are crammed in.

Many of the younger men break through perimeter fences and take their chance on the streets. Save the Children, operating on the island, warned that food and basic clothing is running low which is making the situation ‘tense’.

Desperate migrants wrapped in thermal blankets are rescued

Desperate: Lampedusa has long been a target for illegal migrants wanting a new life in Europe

The migrants are gradually being flown off the island to holding centres in nearby Sicily and mainland Italy

The migrant numbers have now reached half the island’s resident population of 5,000. In 2010, before he was deposed and killed, Libyan dictator Colonel Gaddafi demanded £4billion a year from the European Union to stop Illegal mass migration of Africans by boat into Italy.

He warned he would ‘turn Europe black’ if he did not get the money, which was refused. Today his threat appears to have been taken up by IS. Its fighters have threatened to flood Europe with half a million migrants in a ‘psychological’ attack on the West, according to leaked emails.

Under EU rules, Italy has a duty to rescue any migrants on boats in its territorial waters.

Amnesty has warned thousands more migrants will die on what is the ‘most dangerous sea crossing in the world’ unless rescue operations by Italy are increased.

Yesterday the EU gave the country £10million (13.7million euros) to help it cope. EU commissioners said it was a ‘helping hand’.

Meanwhile, a group of Christian migrants from sub-Saharan Africa were arriving at the Catholic church in Lampedusa asking for food and shelter. The priest handed them what he had – strings of rosary beads. The children put them round their necks and a girl began to pray.