Greek coastguard saves over 1 400 migrants in three days

MYTILENE: Greece’s coastguard rescued more than 1 400 migrants in nearly 60 search and rescue operations near several Greek islands in the eastern Aegean Sea over the past three days as the pace of new arrivals increases, authorities said yesterday.

Tens of thousands of people, many of them fleeing war and conflict in Syria and Afghanistan, have been making their way from the Turkish coast to nearby Greek islands in inflatable dinghies, over- whelming cash-strapped and understaffed authorities on the islands.

The vast majority then head to mainland Greece and from there try to access more prosperous EU countries by either walking across the Balkans from northern Greece or sneaking on to Italy-bound ferries from the west.

The 1 417 migrants rescued between Friday and yesterday morning were picked up at sea in 59 separate incidents off the islands of Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Agathonisi and Kos, the coastguard said.

Those figures do not include the hundreds of others who managed to reach the islands themselves, walking to the main towns to turn themselves in to local authorities and receive registration papers.

On the island of Kos alone, more than 150 migrants in at least six boats landed on the shore in the early hours yesterday.

Some 40 Syrians waved and cheered as their boat arrived at the popular tourist destination. Men jumped into the water to help women and children off the dinghy, with one man so overcome with emotion that he began to sob.

Mukhtar, a Somali migrant who arrived further north on the island of Lesbos, said he had made his way to Greece in an effort to get to Norway, where his family lives.

“I haven’t seen my family for 20 years,” said Mukhtar, who would give only his first name, in Mytilene, the island’s capital. “I want to see my family.”

He is one of some 124 000 migrants who reached the Greek islands by boat in the first seven months of 2015, a staggering 750 percent increase from the same period last year. In July alone, there were 50 000 arrivals, about 70 percent from Syria.

“It was very dangerous by the sea. We travelled four times, they caught us three times, but the fourth time… we came here on a safe boat.”

The migrants pay large sums to get to Europe. Arrivals have become so frequent they are now seen as routine by locals. Greece, in the throes of its worst financial crisis yet, is straining to accommodate the inflow.

The European Commission yesterday approved

2.4 billion (R33bn) of aid over six years for countries including Greece and Italy that have struggled to cope with a surge in the number of migrants. – AP, Reuters