A boat carrying 80 refugees and migrants run aground in the sea area south-southwest off the island of Lesvos on Thursday morning. According to local media, the boat was a normal touristic boat and was carrying 100 people.
Two fishing boats and two patrol boats of the Greek Coast Guard rushed to rescue the passengers.
According to the Greek Coast Guard, the weather conditions are fair and the passengers’ lives are not at risk.
According to a latest information by AthensNewsAgency, the number of the refugees and migrants was 60.
Whether sixty or eighty people, such big numbers of arrivals have not been recorded since the implementation of the EU Turkey Deal on March 20th 2016.
Six Algerian nationals were deported on Thursday from Lesvos to Turkey. The migrants had withdrawn the asylum application they had submitted.
The total number of refugees in Greece is 56,622 people. Outside the refugees facilities are a total of 6,423 people: 1,261 in the port of Piraeus, 3,662 in Ellinikon, 1,500 in several areas.
In the last 3-4 months, the closure of Balkan route borders and the EU Turkey Deal dramatically decreased the number of refugees and migrants arriving in Greece. But Turkey is at odds with the EU that refuses to allow visa-free travel for Turkish citizens, unless Ankara complies with EU Human Rights standards – something that Turkey refuses to do claiming a terrorism problem in the country.
The EU insists, Turkey insists and everybody has been awaiting for the refugees flow to increase again, ever since the EU-Turkey argument broke out in late April.
PS I suppose, the boat passengers carry a postcard with the signature of Turkish President Erdogan sending his best regards to the European Union.
