Greek authorities have rescued nearly 540 asylum seekers from a fishing boat off the southern coast of Crete, according to the country’s coastguard.
The operation took place on Friday about 16 nautical miles (29.6km) south of Gavdos, Greece’s southernmost island. The coastguard did not specify the boat’s point of departure. A spokesperson told AFP that those rescued included nationals from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Egypt, Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan and the occupied Palestinian territory.
The asylum seekers were transferred safely to the Cretan city of Rethymno, where they underwent health checks before the processing of their asylum applications, officials said.
In a separate incident on Thursday, the European Union’s border agency, Frontex, rescued 70 people 65 men and five women from two boats in distress off Gavdos, the coastguard added.
Greece was a major entry point during the peak of Europe’s migration crisis in 2015 and 2016, when more than one million people fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East and Africa arrived in the country before moving on to other European states, including Germany.
Although overall arrivals by sea have declined since then, the islands of Crete and Gavdos among the Mediterranean locations closest to Africa have seen a sharp increase in asylum-seeker arrivals in recent months. Many of the boats are believed to have departed from Libya.
From June next year, the EU’s new migration and asylum pact will come into force. Under the agreement, frontline countries including Greece, Cyprus, Spain and Italy will be eligible for greater support from other EU member states to help manage increased migration pressures.
