Greece: Reports of rescues and pushbacks

Late on Friday (November 29), a Greek coast guard rescue vessel was alerted to a wooden boat carrying 74 migrants southwest of Gavdos, near Crete, according to a December 1 press release from the Hellenic Coast Guard.

The boat carried 61 men, one woman, and 12 minors, according to the press release. The migrants were initially picked up by a Panamanian-flagged tanker sailing nearby, and then taken to the port of Kala Limani, and later transferred to Heraklion on the larger island of Crete.

The press release stated that four foreigners, aged 14, 16, and two aged 17, “were identified as their traffickers” by other migrants on board. The group told investigators they had set off from Tobruk in Libya and had paid between 170,000 and 180,000 Egyptian Pounds (about 3,251 – 3,449 euros) to be transported to Greece.

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Arrests

The four suspected smugglers were arrested by the Greek authorities and charged with facilitating illegal entry into the country, as well as collusion, and being part of a gang, stated the Hellenic coast guard. Investigations into the incident are underway.

Earlier on Friday, the port authorities in the Cretan port of Heraklion had also intercepted another boat with 43 male migrants, about ten nautical miles off the island of Gavdos. This group too was transferred to Heraklion.

Two of those on board, both reportedly 31 years of age, were “recognized by the others as their traffickers.” This group too, according to testimony from migrants on board, had set off from Tobruk in Libya and had paid between 220 – 250,000 Egyptian pounds (about 4215 – 4790 euros) to be transported to Greece.

These two suspects were also arrested by the Greek authorities on charges of facilitating illegal entry into the country and founding a criminal network or gang. The boat on which the migrants had traveled was destroyed, stated the coast guard.

On Sunday (December 1) in the afternoon, port authority officers in Karpathos arrested four foreigners, reportedly aged 34, 35, 24, and 18, as a passenger ship from Rhodes was docking. The vessel was scheduled to continue to mainland Greece, heading to the port of Piraeus in the Athens area.

According to the Greek coast guard, the four arrested were in possession of fake travel documents.

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Turkish coast guard accuses Greeks of pushbacks once more

On December 2, the Turkish Anadolu Agency reported that the Turkish coast guard had rescued 21 migrants off the coast of Bodrum in the province of Mugla on Sunday (December 1).

According to a statement on the Turkish coast guard command’s official website, the migrants were found to be floating in a lifeboat offshore. Eleven children were reportedly on board the lifeboat.

The Turkish coast guard claims the migrants were pushed into Turkish territorial waters by the Greek authorities. The Turkish authorities regularly make these claims and the Greek authorities regularly deny them.

According to Anadolu Agency, “the migrants were handed over to the provincial directorate of migration management after necessary procedures.”

The NGO Aegean Boat Report, which monitors migrant activity in the Aegean Sea, reported in its latest weekly report (November 18–24) that 54 boats carrying 2,606 people attempted to cross the Mediterranean toward the Greek Aegean islands but were intercepted and pushed back.

Aegean Boat Report adds that over the year, the Turkish coast guard and police have picked up 2,156 boats that failed to reach Greece, carrying 57,553. Since the beginning of the year, around 44,000 migrants have been registered arriving on Greek islands on 1,484 boats. Some migrants will make several attempts to cross the sea before they eventually arrive.

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Arrivals increasing

The number of migrants on various Greek islands in the week between November 18 and 24 numbered 13,080 according to Aegean Boat Report. Just 1,169 migrants were transferred off the islands to the Greek mainland. The number of transfers decreased by 12 percent compared to the previous week, noted Aegean Boat Report.

In percentage terms, according to Aegean Boat Report, the Turkish coast guard have picked up a greater percentage of migrant boats (59.2 percent) compared to the numbers of boats that have actually arrived successfully on a Greek island.

The UN Refugee Agency UNHCR, whose figures were last updated on December 1, confirms that since the beginning of January, almost 56,000 migrants arrived in Greece (55,998). Routes towards Greece start predominantly in Turkey, however, there are increasing numbers of attempted crossings from both Egypt and Libya towards Greece.

Some migrant boats that set off from Turkey also attempt to avoid attempting landings on the Greek islands, where the Greek coast guard and Frontex patrol regularly, and some send boats across the southern Mediterranean, circumnavigating Greece in the hope they can reach Italian shores.

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UNHCR expresses concern over deaths

On Friday, the UNHCR expressed its concern in a statement at the number of deaths that have occurred during attempted crossings of the Mediterranean towards Greece this year. Since January, at least 45 people are believed to have died, 17 of them during the month of November.

Maria Clara Martin, the UNHCR representative in Greece, told the news agency Associated Press (AP) that the deaths “highlight an urgent need for long-term responses and safer and credible alternatives” for people fleeing conflict, persecution, violence or human rights violations.

Martin added that “counting lives lost at sea cannot become a norm, we should not get used to it.”

Last week, at least two fatal incidents occurred off the island of Samos, not far from the Turkish coast. A mother lost three of her children, and a man lost his wife and daughter.

The Greek authorities believe that the renewed increase in the numbers of migrants attempting to reach Greece is due to the various conflicts across the Middle East region.

On Friday, the Greek coast guard said that it had arrested a 17-year-old Turkish youth on suspicion of trying to bring 16 migrants, including three children, to the Greek island of Chios.