Greece has rescued hundreds
of migrants off its southern islands of Gavdos and Crete in five
separate incidents since Friday, its coastguard said on Sunday.
More than 430 migrants were spotted and rescued about 25
nautical miles off Gavdos, Greece’s southernmost island, on
Sunday, the coastguard said in a statement.
In a separate incident, also on Sunday, the European Union’s
Frontex border agency rescued 96 migrants on board two boats off
Crete, the coastguard said. The migrants are now being taken to
Crete, Greece’s largest and most populous island.
Sea arrivals from northeastern Libya of migrants trying to
cross to Europe have surged in recent months. They mainly come
from the Middle East and North Africa, including nationals from
war-torn Sudan and citizens of Egypt and Bangladesh.
Last month Athens said it would deploy two frigates near
Libyan territorial waters to help stem the flow. It also urged
Libya to cooperate more closely with Greece and the EU to stop
migrants sailing from there or turn them back before they exit
Libyan territorial waters.
In another incident on Sunday, a Greek media outlet
published footage showing dozens of migrants jumping off a speed
boat into the water before reaching the shores of southern
Crete.
Greece and Libya have been trying to mend relations strained
by an accord signed in 2019 between the Libyan government and
Turkey.
Greek Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis travelled to
Benghazi on Sunday to discuss migration with eastern Libyan
military commander Khalifa Haftar.
“We will continue our undisturbed relationship… and we
hope that in the near future we will have tangible results for
the progress of our relations,” Gerapetritis was quoted by his<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Greece has rescued hundredsof migrants off its southern islands of Gavdos and Crete in fiveseparate incidents since Friday, its coastguard said on Sunday.More than 430 migrants were spotted and rescued about 25nautical miles off Gavdos, Greece’s southernmost island, onSunday, the coastguard said in a statement.In a separate incident, also on Sunday, the European Union’sFrontex border […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n