ATHENS: Around 500 refugees rescued off the island of Crete this week in a dramatic operation have been temporarily transferred to a ferry for processing, Greece’s coast guard said on Thursday.
The migrants — including 128 boys and nine girls — were aboard an abandoned fishing boat that issued a distress call late Monday while traveling southwest of Crete.
Migrant smugglers are increasingly traveling a longer and more dangerous route south of Crete, Greek officials say, due to stronger patrols in the Aegean Sea by the Greek Coast Guard and EU border agency Frontex.
A Coast Guard spokesman told JEE News that the group of 483 included Syrians, Egyptians, Pakistanis, Palestinians and Sudanese.
“The operation is going on but it is slow due to the large number of people,” he added. “We need to get testimony from them as well.”
Several nearby ships responded on Monday and a Greek navy frigate was dispatched, but strong winds made it impossible to rescue migrants at sea.
It took half a day to get the 25-meter (82-foot) fishing boat safely to the small coastal town of Palaichura in Crete on Tuesday.
In a statement on Thursday, the Coast Guard said the asylum seekers were transferred to a Greek ferry on Wednesday evening.
The agency could not immediately say how long they would be there.
Athens has said it will immediately ask fellow EU states to share the larger group.
“We ask the (European) Commission to immediately launch and coordinate the evacuation response to this (search and rescue) operation, ensuring that lives at sea are saved.” The responsibility is equitably shared among member states.” said in a letter to the bloc’s executive body released to the media on Tuesday.
Greece, Italy and Spain are among the countries used by people fleeing Africa and the Middle East in search of safety and a better life in the EU.
The International Organization for Migration has recorded nearly 2,000 migrants dead and missing in the Mediterranean this year.
