In recent weeks, the arrivals of migrants on the island of Lesbos have resumed. Thirty-six migrants from Turkey were spotted off Lesbos and transferred on the night of Saturday June 13 to Sunday June 14 to a temporary settlement in the north of this island, we learned from the coast guards Greek.
Among the group, "one person had to be hospitalized," an official with the coast guard press office told AFP on Sunday, without giving further details.
An imposed quarantine
The rest of the group were safely transferred to a migrant facility and quarantined for seven days under current measures to combat Covid-19, the source said.
According to the Greek News Agency (Ana), the migrant group is made up of ten women, ten children and sixteen men, all from Iran and Afghanistan.
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The migrants' boat was spotted on Saturday morning, and the rescue and transfer operation took place on Saturday midnight, according to the coast guard.
Migrant advocacy NGOs, Aegean Boat Report and Watch the Med, denounced on social media that the Greek and Turkish coast guards left the boat in distress offshore "for 14 hours" on Saturday, returning responsibility, as they usually do in this migratory passage.
Sunday morning, a boat carrying 40 people landed in Gialotsipia, #Lesvos.
The new arrivals will be taken to the #quarantineuk camp in Megala Therma, Lesvos north, for 14 days of quarantine due to the #coronavirus. #Greece #refugees pic.twitter.com/GG8jU4pCwF
Finally, since the boat was in Greek waters, the Greek coast guards had to rescue the migrants on Saturday evening.
This narrow maritime area between Greece and Turkey in the Aegean Sea is a frequent passage of migrants who try to reach Europe by fleeing war and poverty.
UN calls for investigation
After numerous reports from NGOs and the media published in recent months accusing Greece of driving back migrants to Turkey, the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the European Union (EU) have called on Athens on Friday to "urgently open an investigation" into the matter and "take the necessary measures".
It is the third boat to arrive in Lesbos since the beginning of June. A total of 108 migrants have been rescued off the island in the past two weeks, according to Ana, showing a recovery in the number of migrants after a significant drop in the previous months due to restrictions on the Covid-19.
With AFP
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