More than 200 refugees and migrants were found wandering on the Arda river bridge in Evros on Friday morning. The majority of them are women with babies in their arms, children, pregnant women, children with Down syndrome, while there is also a person with epilepsy and an adult with artificial limbs.
According to state broadcaster ERT, most of them claim to be of Syrian, Iraqi and Yazidi origin.
They reported that they have been walking without water and food for 3 to 4 days.
ERT reported that they were provided with the essentials, while an ambulance picked up vulnerable people who needed medical attention.
They are transported by buses to the refugees center Chimoniou for the first registration and depending on the capacity of the facility Fylakio they will be transported there, for the identification of their data.
In a parallel development, the Greek Coast Guard conducted a rescue operation off the coast of Pylos, southern Peloponnese on Friday, rescuing 49 people stranded on a freight ship. The freight ship, flying under a Belize flag, was located 109 nautical miles southwest of Pylos.
A 21-year-old woman in need of medical attention, along with her partner, were airlifted to Kalamata by a Hellenic Navy helicopter, with the remaining 47 people embarking on a coast guard vessel.
PS it seems the outcry over the Pylos shipwreck tragedy with hundreds of drown migrants and the constant denouncements of pushbacks have changed a little bit Greek policies in migration issues.
