About 500 illegal Tunisian migrants arrived yesterday on two Italian islands, officials said, after a week in which poor weather had interrupted the flow of people fleeing the country.

A boat carrying 347 people first arrived overnight on Lampedusa, the island’s coast guard said, and four more boats including one carrying 44 people arrived during the day.

Another boat carrying 22 Tunisian migrants also arrived during the day at the small nearby island of Linosa.

Lampedusa has been flooded with migrants from Tunisia in the wake of the popular revolt that ousted strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January.

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