Greece’s Coast Guard rescued more than 150 migrants in three separate incidents in the last 24 hours in the Aegean.
A woman was recovered dead from the sea area of Kos. According to the Hellenic Coast Guard, a woman was recovered dead in the southeast of Kos after a boat carrying 16 migrants capsized, while the remaining 15 people were rescued and transported by a Coast Guard vessel to the island’s port.
A wooden boat with 78 people on board was located in the sea area 23 nautical miles south of Gavdos, the southernmost island of Greece. The migrants were picked up by a lifeboat and transferred to the port of Souda in Crete.
A sailing boat with 70 migrants was spotted in the east of the Messinian Gulf, southern Peloponnese. The people were picked up by a Panamanian-flagged ship with the participation of a Coast Guard vessel and was transferred to the port of Kalamata.
The rescue took place some 15 nautical miles (17 miles) off the southwestern village of Koroni, the coast guard said. There was no information immediately available on the nationalities of the migrants, or on where they had left from.
Typically, smuggling gangs cram dozens of migrants into yachts that leave Turkey for Italy, traveling through the central Aegean Sea. Each passenger is charged several thousands dollars for the trip.
The route skirts eastern Aegean waters that are heavily patrolled by Greece’s coast guard for small migrant boats leaving the Turkish coast for the nearby Greek islands.
The population of migrants in Greece on the rise
According to data from the Hellenic Coast Guard, in August 2024, 2,840 migrants were arrested for illegal entry into our country, of which 19 were located in Greek territory and were destined for an EU country.
As part of the operations, 88 traffickers were also arrested, while 49 boats and 3 vehicles were seized.
According to Frontex data, 37,163 people crossed into Greece from Turkey from January until the end of August, while migrant flows from the Eastern Mediterranean routes increased by 39% in the first half of the year compared to the corresponding period in 2023.
The population of migrants who seek asylum in Greece who remain in specially built structures on the islands is reportedly constantly rising in tandem with the daily interception of migrant trafficking boats by the Greek Coast Guard.
Several landings have been recorded on Rhodes, Crete and elsewhere, with arrivals transferred either to the islands that have reception and identification centers like Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Leros and Kos, or directly to hospitality structures in mainland Greece.
Germany tightens borders. How will this affect Greece?
Germany’s decision to tighten its land borders may soon create suffocating conditions as the accommodation facilities on the islands and, gradually, on the mainland, reach full capacity.
Migration Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos has stated that there is no question of mass returns of asylum-seekers from Germany to Greece even though such a thing is foreseen by a European agreement.
He stressed that “unrecognized persons are provided for under Dublin III to return, as it is also provided for by the European directives that those who obtain travel documents and have 90 days to travel within Schengen.”
He noted, however, that this does not apply in practice because these people cannot be traced. But if those who arrive in Greece remain, as has happened in the past, soon the population of recognized refugees will increase tremendously.
