Crete is grappling with an unprecedented influx of migrants, with nearly 2,000 people arriving on the island in the past 48 hours alone, pushing existing reception facilities beyond their capacity and leading to unmanageable and inhumane living conditions.
Since the beginning of the year, over 9,000 migrants have reached Crete, marking a staggering increase of more than 350 percent compared to the same period last year. On Monday alone, 963 new arrivals were recorded, with testimonies suggesting an even larger wave may arrive in the coming days.
Local authorities are sounding the alarm. Eleni Zervoudaki, Chania’s deputy mayor for social policy, stated, “We are at the peak of our hosting capacity.” Her sentiments were echoed by Nikos Kalogeris, deputy regional governor of Chania, who described the situation as “unmanageable” and emphasized the inadequacy of temporary accommodation facilities, calling for immediate government intervention.
Mass migrant arrivals and dire conditions in Crete
Boats carrying between 50 and 100 people have been arriving daily on Crete‘s coast. A significant search and rescue operation was recently carried out for approximately 520 individuals aboard a fishing vessel flying the Bahamas flag, 17 nautical miles south of Gavdos. The rescued migrants were subsequently transferred to the port of Sfakia.
The strain on resources is evident across the island with the following recorded figures:
- Chania: 852 individuals are currently housed at the Agia exhibition center, with 442 migrants who arrived last Sunday in Chania and had to be transferred back to Rethymno due to lack of space. The Social Centre – Migrants’ Centre of Chania has condemned the conditions at the Agia exhibition center, highlighting a lack of essential items, no heating, and migrants sleeping on thin mats with insufficient, reused bedding.
- Rethymno: 442 refugees who disembarked on Sunday in Agia Galini are being housed at the commercial port of Rethymno under heatwave conditions.
- Heraklion: More than 110 migrants, intercepted by coastguard vessels on three boats, were transferred to the old cargo terminal of the port, which already accommodates 150 people from previous arrivals.
All “hosting” areas, described as already small and unsuitable, are now suffocated. Reports indicate that thousands of refugees are “literally piled up in miserable conditions,” exposed to the hot sun or in poorly ventilated rooms, raising serious health concerns. Transportation means are also insufficient for timely movement from arrival points.
The escalating crisis has prompted some transfers of migrants from Souda to Piraeus on mainland Greece to alleviate the pressure on Crete. Last month, Athens announced it would deploy two frigates near Libyan territorial waters to help stem the flow of migrants. It also urged Libya to cooperate more closely with Greece and the EU to prevent migrants from sailing from Libyan waters or to turn them back before they exit Libyan territorial waters.
Eastern Libya’s Haftar expels European delegation
Meanwhile, the administration of Khalifa Haftar, which rules much of eastern Libya, expelled the representatives of the European delegation, including the Greek Minister of Migration, Thanos Plevris, from eastern Libya on Tuesday.
Tuesday’s planned visit, intended to launch new migration talks under the EU’s Team Europe framework, was blocked by Libya’s eastern-based government, which accused the delegation of violating national sovereignty, bypassing diplomatic protocols, and ignoring entry procedures for foreign officials.
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