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Baby Turtles Take Wrong Turn, Gatecrash Home

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A batch of 51 sea turtles took the wrong turning after they hatched on a moonless night and instead of heading out to sea walked into a vacationer's house.

La Repubblica newspaper reported Thursday that the tiny turtles were attracted by the house lights close to the Agrigento beach on the Mediterranean island of Sicily.

The animals were collected in a bucket by the astonished resident, Andrea Crapanzano, and taken down to the sea at dawn.

Marine experts said the turtles' eggs had been laid on a busy stretch of beach and were amazed they hadn't been crushed by the crowds of summer visitors.

Turtles lay eggs on a number of Mediterranean islands and 2002 looks like throwing up a bumper crop of the endangered species.

On the southern Italian island of Lampedusa, environmentalists say there are seven egg nests waiting to hatch which could produce more than 500 turtles.

Lampedusa normally sees one or two nests a season. Seven is the biggest number since marine groups started monitoring the area 27 years ago.

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