The Hellenic Coast Guard yesterday rescued dozens of refugees and migrants whose boat ran aground on a deserted islet off the coast of southwestern Greece, hundreds of kilometers from the usual entry point of migrants into the EU nation.
The boat carrying about 70 people ran aground overnight on the tiny islet of Sapientza, off the southwestern tip of the Peloponnese, the coast guard said.
The vast majority of refugees and migrants reach Greece’s eastern Aegean islands a few kilometers from the Turkish coast.
Coast guard vessels picked up the migrants yesterday morning, ferrying them to the mainland where they were to be registered. It was not immediately clear what type of boat they had been on, where they had set sail from or where they had been sailing to.
Government figures showed 261 migrants and refugees arrived on Greek islands in the 24 hours from Thursday morning to yesterday morning — a jump compared with recent figures, which had ranged from a few dozen to about 150 per day.
Of those who arrived in the past 24 hours, the vast majority — 139 people — reached the eastern Aegean island of Lesbos. The rest arrived on Chios, Samos, Leros and Karpathos.
The new arrivals brought the official count of refugees and migrants stranded in Greece to more than 58,000.
Last year, Greece was the main point of entry into the EU for hundreds of thousands seeking better lives in northern and central European countries.
A deal between the EU and Turkey reached in March, combined with Balkan border closures to migrants, has led to a dramatic drop in the number of arrivals.
Those now arriving on Greek islands from Turkey face deportation back to Turkey unless they successfully apply for asylum in Greece.
While the deal has limited the flow, people still arrive and about 11,000 are stranded on a handful of eastern Aegean islands, most housed in overcrowded detention camps.
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