Two fishermen of Greece’s Lesvos island, who rescued hundreds of refugees in 2015 and 2016, will be granted prize money by the co-winners of the “Olof Palme Prize”. The prize money will be used to repair the fishermen’s boats that were destroyed in the recent snowstorm.
Spyros Galinos, mayor of Lesvos, and Giusi Nicolini, mayor of Italy’s Lampedusa and Linosa, were the co-winners of the 2016 Olof Palme Prize for their “inspiring leadership” in assisting “fellow human beings fleeing from war, terror, and misery”.
The two mayors will share the 100,000 U.S. dollar prize created in 1987 in memory of late Swedish prime minister Olof Palme, who was slain in 1986. The award ceremony is scheduled for January 30 in Stockholm.
“The total amount of the money prize, which accompanies this award, belongs to the citizens of Lesvos,” Galinos told Xinhua.
“Initially, the money will cover the damage to the boats of fishermen Kostas Pinteris and Thanasis Marmarinos,” he said.
The boats, with which hundreds of people were saved, sustained damage due to the extreme weather conditions.
(source: Xinhua)
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