New Spike in Number of Migrant Arrivals Worry Greece

Greece’s Immigration Minister expressed concern about the recent spike in the number of undocumented migrants arriving in the southern islands of Crete and Gavdos.

“The flow of migrants from eastern Libya is small, but with an increasing trend, which worries and concerns us, and that is why we are taking a series of initiatives to deal with this new front,” the Minister of Immigration and Asylum Dimitris Kairidis told SKAI on Wednesday.

He was speaking after a boat carrying 91 migrants reached Gavdos, a small island south of Crete and the southernmost Greek Island. A coast guard statement said the migrants, who were found on a beach on Gavdos island Tuesday, were being taken to reception areas on Crete.

They are believed to have set off from the coast of eastern Libya, about 170 nautical miles to the south. Their nationalities were not made public.

Local authorities on Gavdos and Crete say they are seeing a spike in the arrival of people attempting the long and dangerous crossing from Africa.

Gavdos, which lies some 27 nautical miles south of Crete, and Crete’s southern coastline have seen an increase in migrant arrivals in recent months. Over the past four weeks, about a dozen boats carrying more than 600 people in total made landfall in the area or were rescued offshore.

In several cases, the Greek coast guard said they had crossed the Mediterranean Sea from the eastern Libyan port of Tobruk, having paid smuggling gangs up to $5,000 each for their passage.

The influx has put pressure on authorities on Gavdos, a summer alternative tourism destination of about 29 square kilometers (11 square miles) in an area that has just a few dozen residents off-season.

The island’s mayor has written to government officials seeking extra funding to cover arriving migrants’ immediate needs for food and lodging before their transport to Crete.

Migrant numbers down in Greece’s Aegean Islands and Evros

In contrast to the spike in southern Greece, Kairidis said that the situation is much better in the eastern Aegean and the border with Turkey at Evros.

“The situation in the eastern Aegean is very good as we are down more than 75 percent from the highs of last September and in the last few days we have had almost no flow. At Evros, the flow has been reduced to zero,” the minister said.

Greece is a major arrival point for migrants seeking a better life in the European Union. For years, most headed for the eastern Aegean Sea islands near the Turkish mainland.

But increased Greek and European Union sea patrols in the area have prompted smuggling gangs to also seek alternative routes, including from Libya to southern Crete and from Turkey to Italy round the southern Greek mainland.