Greece rescues more than 500 asylum seekers off coast of Crete

Greek coastguard says astir 540 radical volition person their asylum claims processed aft rescue southbound of the island.

Nearly 540 asylum seekers person been rescued from a sportfishing vessel southbound of the land of Crete, Greece’s coastguard says.

The radical were recovered immoderate 16 nautical miles (29.6km) disconnected Gavdos during a Greek hunt cognition connected Friday, the coastguard said successful a statement, without specifying wherever the vessel had acceptable sail from.

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A coastguard spokesperson told the AFP quality bureau that the rescued asylum seekers were from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Egypt, Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan and the occupied Palestinian territory.

They were taken to the Cretan metropolis of Rethymno, the spokesperson said, and aft undergoing wellness checks, their asylum claims volition beryllium processed.

In a abstracted incidental connected Thursday, the European Union’s borderline bureau Frontex rescued 65 men and 5 women seeking refuge from 2 boats successful distress disconnected Gavdos, the Greek coastguard added.

Asylum seekers beryllium extracurricular their impermanent structure successful the municipality of Rethymno, connected the land of Crete, Greece [Stefanos Rapanis/Reuters]

Greece was connected the beforehand enactment of a surge successful migration successful 2015 and 2016, which saw much than a cardinal radical from the Middle East and Africa onshore connected its shores successful hunt of protection, earlier moving connected to different European countries, including Germany.

While the fig of asylum seekers trying to scope Greece by vessel has decreased since then, some Crete and Gavdos – the 2 Mediterranean islands nearest to the African seashore – person seen a steep emergence successful asylum boats.

Many of these vessels person taken disconnected from countries specified arsenic Libya.

Next June, the EU’s caller migration and asylum pact volition participate into force, and Greece, on with Cyprus, Spain and Italy, volition beryllium eligible for assistance from different EU nations successful dealing with the pressures that stem from accrued migration.

According to the European Council, assistance nether the pact includes enactment from EU agencies, arsenic good arsenic EU funds.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said that deporting asylum seekers whose extortion claims are rejected volition beryllium a precedence for his centre-right authorities nether the caller pact.

Human rights groups person criticised the pact, informing that it puts asylum seekers astatine hazard and violates their rights.