Greece’s coastguard picks up 36 more migrants off Lesbos

ATHENS: Thirty-six migrants travelling from Turkey were spotted off Lesbos and transferred to a temporary settlement in the north of the island, Greece’s coastguard said Sunday.

“Among the group, one person had to be hospitalised”, a coastguard press office official told AFP, without giving further details.

The others were transferred to a migrant facility for a seven-day quarantine under measures to combat coronavirus, the source said. According to the Greek state news agency ANA, the group was made up of 10 women, 10 children and 16 men, from Iran and Afghanistan.

Their boat was spotted on Saturday morning but the rescue and transfer operation did not take place until midnight, according to the coastguard.

Among the group, one person had to be hospitalised. Greece coastguard press office official

In social media posts, migrant rights groups, Aegean Boat Report and Watch the Med denounced the Greek and Turkish coastguards, saying they had left the boat in distress offshore “for 14 hours” as they attempted to palm off responsibility on each other.

Migrants trying to reach Europe to flee war and poverty frequently use this narrow area between Greece and Turkey in the Aegean Sea.

There have been numerous reports from NGOs and the media published in recent months accusing Greece of driving migrants backs towards

Turkey.

On Friday the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration ( IOM) and the EU called on Athens to urgently investigate the matter and “take the necessary measures”.

This latest boat is the third to arrive in Lesbos since the beginning of June.

A total of 108 migrants have been rescued off the island in the last two weeks, according to ANA, an increase in numbers after a significant drop in previous months due to restrictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. — AFP