Cyprus: More than 450 migrants arrive in one day

Close to 460 people crammed into six boats were rescued off Cape Greco, a small peninsula in the southeast of Cyprus yesterday (March 11), the Cyprus News Agency reported. 

The Cyprus Port and Maritime Police conducted the rescue and reported that one boat was loaded with a staggering 283 people including 79 children. A total of 458 people were rescued during the operation and transferred to the Pournara Accommodation Center, located on the outskirts of Nicosia. The tent facility has a 350-person capacity meant to provide temporary accommodation to newly arrived asylum seekers. 

The rescued individuals allegedly told police that they had departed from Lebanon and had to pay 3,000 dollars (2,700 euros) each to an undisclosed individual. In response, the police reportedly detained two individuals — a 31-year-old man from Lebanon and a 23-year-old man from Syria — who were on board the sixth boat. 

Also read: Cyprus turns tide on migrant arrival trend

Becoming a ‘front-line country’ for irregular arrivals

Cyprus, an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, is the European Union’s (EU) easternmost member state. With an island population of less than 1 million, Cyprus has the highest proportion of asylum seekers relative to its population in the EU. The number of asylum seekers exceeds 5 percent of the island’s total population. 

Cyprus has argued that it has become a “front-line country” and is trying to manage irregular arrivals. 

Last October, in the wake of the outbreak of hostilities between Israel and Palestine, news agency Al Jazeera reported that 458 Syrian refugees from Lebanon arrived in Cyprus over a week. Cypriot authorities reportedly prepared for an increased number of irregular arrivals amid escalating clashes on the Lebanese-Israeli border. 

Cyprus was reported to have accused Beirut of not regulating maritime movements across the Mediterranean Sea. Lebanon hosts some 805,000 United Nations-registered Syrian refugees, but officials estimate the actual number to be between 1.5 and 2 million. 

About 90 percent of Syrian refugees in Lebanon live below the extreme poverty line, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). 

Since Lebanon’s economy fell into a crisis four years back following an enormous blast that flattened swathes of Beirut and killing more than 220 an increasing number of would-be migrants – both refugees and Lebanese – have attempted to leave Lebanon by sea. 

Also read: Cyprus: Rising migrant numbers cause concern

Syrian refugees caught between two countries 

Last month, a group of more than 100 Syrian migrants departed from Lebanon and attempted to enter Cyprus. Cypriot police and national guard vessels escorted them back to Lebanon where they were denied entry. 

In response to similar reports of Syrians being sent back to Lebanon, the UNHCR expressed concern that Syrians had been returned from Cyprus to Lebanon without a proper assessment to determine whether they needed international protection. 

In the months since the Israel-Hamas conflict, more Syrians are said to be fleeing Lebanon and trying to reach Cyprus or Greece by boat. 

Read more: Syrian refugees caught up in Cyprus-Lebanon spat