Greece sees first day that no refugees, migrants arrive by sea
On April 5, not one migrant or refugee arrived by sea in Greece, the first day that this has been recorded since last year, the Greek Coast Guard said.
The fact, coming a day after the planned start of deportations of migrants from Greece to Turkey in terms of the deal agreed between Brussels and Ankara, is recorded in the latest report by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) for the period up to April 6.
IOM also noted a significant decrease in the number of arrivals by sea in Greece – 1758 men, women and children arrived between March 31 and April 6.
The organisation said that this sum was about the number of arrivals per day in January, February and March. The figure was significantly lower than that of two weeks ago, when there were 5293 arrivals by sea.
As of April 6 2016, cumulative arrivals in Greece by sea for 2016 added up to 152 461, with 914 arriving by land, according to IOM.
The Greek Coast Guard reports that the number of unaccompanied minors arriving on the Greek island of Lesbos in the first quarter of 2016 was 537. This compares to 750 unaccompanied minors arriving on Lesbos through all of 2015.
Of the people arriving by sea in Greece in January – March 2016, a total of 73 179 were from Syria, 38 534 from Afghanistan, 23 445 from Iraq, 5317 from Pakistan and 4467 from Iran, IOM said.
Meanwhile arrivals in Italy for 2016 have increased to 19 322 – about 1000 since this time last week, IOM said.
On April 7, the Italian Coast Guard rescued 314 migrants from a fishing boat in the Maltese Search and Rescue zone reportedly sailing from Egypt.
IOM Rome reported they were brought to Crotone (Calabria). The migrants on board came from Egypt, Somalia, Eritrea, the Comoro Islands and included some Syrians.
(Photo: Phelim123)
