There were Pakistanis among the 483 migrants who were rescued off the coast of Greece.
This week, a dramatic operation off the coast of Crete resulted in the rescue of nearly 500 people seeking asylum.
ATHENS — The Hellenic Coast Guard announced on Thursday that about 500 people who were rescued in a dramatic operation earlier this week off the coast of Crete had been temporarily transferred to a vessel for processing.
The migrants were on board a dilapidated fishing boat that filed a distress call late on Monday night as it was travelling southwest of Crete. There were a total of 128 boys and nine girls among the group.
Greek officials say that because of increased patrols in the Aegean Sea by the Greek coastguard and the EU border agency Frontex, people who attempt to smuggle migrants are increasingly taking a route that is farther and more dangerous than the one that goes south of Crete.
According to a coastguard spokesperson who spoke with AFP, the group of 483 migrants comprises Syrians, Egyptians, Pakistanis, Palestinians, and Sudanese.
She went on to say that while the operation was moving forward, it was moving at a snail’s pace because of the vast number of personnel involved. “It is also necessary for us to hear their testimony.”
On Monday, several vessels in the area reacted, and a frigate from the Greek navy was despatched, but it was unable to save the migrants who were still at sea because to the near-gale winds.
On Tuesday, it was not until after a day and a half that the 25-meter (82-foot) fishing boat was successfully dragged to the little seaside village of Palaiochora on the island of Crete.
The statement that was released by the coastguard on Thursday stated that the individuals seeking asylum had been transferred onto a Greek ferry on the previous evening.
The agency was unable to provide an immediate answer to the question of how long they would remain there.
Athens has indicated that it will make an immediate request to other EU member states to divide up the large group.
“We ask the (European) commission to immediately undertake and coordinate a relocation initiative in response to this (search and rescue) operation,” Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi said in a letter to the bloc’s executive body. The letter was released to the media on Tuesday. “We ask the (European) commission to immediately undertake and coordinate a relocation initiative in response to this (search and rescue) operation,” Mitarachi said.
People fleeing violence and poverty in Africa and the Middle East often make their way to Greece, Italy, and Spain on their way to other countries in the European Union in the hope of finding refuge and a better life there.
This year, the International Organization for Migration has documented the deaths or disappearances of nearly 2,000 migrants while they were crossing the Mediterranean Sea.
