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Migrants Moving On Due To Lack Of Fingerprinting

Italy insists it is documenting all new migrants arriving on its shores, but Sky News has spoken to some asylum seekers who say they have not been fingerprinted and so can't be identified.

Germany has accused Italy of not doing enough to ensure the refugees are prevented from moving on.

It claims Italy is encouraging them to travel on to northern Europe because it is failing to process them properly.

Under EU rules migrants have to apply for asylum in the first European country they enter. If they arrive in a different EU country they risk being sent back to Italy.

But the migrants I spoke to said they wanted to go to Britain, Germany or Holland, and wanted to avoid fingerprinting so they couldn't be sent back.

We travelled around the Sicilian city of Catania late at night with two volunteers who give food and assistance to migrants.

We came across a group of eight Eritreans sleeping rough who said they had travelled to Italy from Libya 10 days ago.

The volunteers gave them drinks and promised to come back with medicine - all eight were suffering from scabies.

Speaking in broken English, one of the group who didn't want to be named, said: "If they take your finger you can't go to Europe. If you go to Germany, you get sent back.

"I go German, Holland."

In response to me asking him if he wanted to go to England, he said: "Yes. The people in England is good."

Volunteer Giuseppe Messina said: "They are hiding because they don't want the police to identify them. According to Italian law, minors are free to go where they want without being stopped by the authorities.

'They arrive in Catania, stay here two or three days and usually they go to Milan and northern Europe.

"They always say 'no police no police' because they are afraid of them. They don't want to be identified - for them it is an important thing because if they are not identified they can go where they want. That's how it works."

Meanwhile, HMS Bulwark is on its way to help in deal with the migrant crisis in the Mediterraean.

The Navy's 19,0000-ton assault ship will work in tandem with surveillance helicopters to provide day and night searches covering ranges of more than 100 miles.

The move comes amid rising public outrage over the deaths of up to 900 people when their boat sank on its way to Europe from Libya last week.