Lampedusa , Italy ( CNN ) -- More than 400 people fleeing Libya and Tunisia arrived overnight in an Italian island on Saturday , the latest in a stream of refugees escaping volatile and unstable North Africa . The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said the people reached the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa in two boats , one from Libya and the other from Tunisia . The vessel from Libya carried 199 people fleeing the country 's civil war , and the other carried 218 Tunisians looking for better lives in Europe . Five boats containing 1,271 passengers reached Lampedusa on Friday . Many of the refugees are from sub-Saharan Africa , including Sierra Leone and Senegal . Others include Bangladeshis and Egyptians . More than 30,000 migrants and refugees from Tunisia and Libya have risked this dangerous journey to Lampedusa since last February . Lampedusa and Malta , both islands less than an hour 's flight from the North African coast , have borne the brunt of the subsequent wave of migration . At one point , the population of migrants vastly outnumbered the tiny population of Lampedusa , which numbers less than 6,000 . The number of new arrivals from Tunisia has reduced somewhat , thanks in part to a recent agreement with Italy to improve patrolling along the Tunisian coast .
One ship was from Libya and the other was from Tunisia . People have been making the journey since February . Comment: