Lampedusa  - Around 350 illegal immigrants arrived on the Italian Mediterranean island of Lampedusa by sea on Friday, bringing the total in the past two days to 800.

Italian coastguard vessels intercepted an unknown number of makeshift craft on Thursday and Friday, which predominantly contained immigrants from Eritrea, Somalia and Ethiopia, Italian news reports said.

The immigrants have been taken to an already overflowing reception centre on Lampedusa where around 1200 immigrants are currently being held, the reports said.

In one of the boats which arrived on Thursday, three young sisters arrived from Ethiopia, who were travelling to be with their mother and two brothers already in Italy.

From May to July of 2008 alone 775 minors from Somalia and Eritrea have arrived on Lampedusa. Four fifths of them made the journey alone without a parent or guardian, according to the aid organization Save the Children.

The tiny island of Lampedusa, which lies 113km from the coast of Tunisia, is a focus point for migrants from Africa who attempt to make the dangerous Mediterranean crossing in the calmer summer months. (dpa)