DHAKA: A video of a group of migrants being washed down in a centre on the Italian island of Lampedusa has caused a wave of outrage in Rome and Brussels, less than three months after a shipwreck in which hundreds died.

The male migrants, some of them naked, are shown queuing up to be disinfected after being checked by nurses in what appears to be an open space at the centre in footage shown by Rai 2 state television.

The EU’s home affairs commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem on Wednesday condemned ‘appalling conditions’ at some of the migrant centres in Italy including Lampedusa and said an EU investigation was already under way, reports The Straits Times.

‘The EU is committed to assist Italy in receiving migrants, but it has to be done in decent conditions,’ Malmstroem said on Twitter, adding, ‘We will not hesitate to launch an infringement procedure to make sure EU standards and obligations are fully respected’.

BDST: 2017 HRS, DEC 18, 2013
Edited by Robab Rosan, Current Affairs Editor