Greece saves 145 migrants on border with Turkey: report

Greek authorities on Thursday rescued 145 migrants stranded on an island in the Evros River marking the border with Turkey, a common route for people fleeing war and poverty to reach Europe.

According to a unit of the Greek branch of the Red Cross present at the operation, the migrants, including 45 women and 30 children, "are in good condition," the Greek news agency ANA said.

The migrants, whose identities were not revealed, were abandoned on the island by traffickers coming from Turkey, according to a Greek police statement.

"It is not the first time that smugglers have pushed migrants towards Greek territory," Panayiotis Harelas, head of the Greek border guard federation, told AFP.

Athens often accuses Ankara of allowing migrants to cross into Greece.

In June, Greek authorities rescued 91 people in the same area, including many Yazidis -- a Kurdish-speaking minority living mainly in Iraq.

Thousands of migrants, mostly from Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan, have entered Greece in recent years from the sea and land borders with Turkey.

Following a strict migration policy, Greece has stepped up patrols in the Aegean Sea between Greece and Turkey with the help of the European Border Surveillance Agency, Frontex.

On the Evros land border, the outgoing conservative government, forecast to win the June 25 election, has promised to extend a 15-foot (five meters) high metal fence already built 38 kilometers (24 miles) along the river.

Despite the security clampdown, migrant tragedies continue in the eastern Mediterranean region.

On June 14, a dilapidated boat capsized and sank off Pylos in the Peloponnese, drowning 82 people, while "hundreds" were reported missing, according to some of the 104 survivors.


AFP