Dozens of migrants and refugees on an inflatable boat were accompanied to the port of Karlovasi on the island of Samos on Monday morning. One of the passengers had reportedly called the international rescue phone number saying that they were in dire situation.
A Search and Rescue operation was launched in cooperation of Frontex and the Greek Cost Guard, while a super Puma of the Greek Navy also participated in the operation.
The migrants boat was spotted a few nautical miles North-West of Samos.
At the time of the rescue operation winds were blowing with intensity of up to 6 Beaufort.
A total of 58 people were on board of the boat.
Another boat with 84 people on board arrived also at Samos on Monday.
Improved weather conditions have increased the inflow of boats illegally entering Greece from Turkey. a total of 2,000 people arrived on the Greek islands of the eastern Aegean Sea in March.
Migration Minister, Dimitris Vitsas, said last week the number of new arrivals increased by 33 percent in the first three months of 2018.
