Around 150 migrants, mostly from Afghanistan, landed on the Greek island of Kythera on Wednesday. They were traveling on two sailboats and are believed to have been heading for Italy.
Two sailboats carrying dozens of migrants arrived on a southern Greek island on Wednesday (August 17), with the first one running aground on rocks. Nobody was reported injured or missing.
The coast guard said the first sailboat, which ran aground near Kapsali on the southern coast of Kythera island early in the morning, was carrying 97 people, 93 of them from Afghanistan, three from Turkey and one from Pakistan. Local media reported that those on board included five women and five children.
A second boat reported to be carrying around 50 people arrived at the same port at about midday.
It was unclear when or from where the two vessels had set sail, and whether they had been traveling together or separately. Unconfirmed reports said the migrants had left from Turkey and were on their way to Italy, according to the news agency dpa.
New destination
The most common sea route to Greece for asylum seekers from the Middle East, Asia and Africa has long been from Turkey to the nearby Greek islands in the Aegean Sea.
Last week around 50 migrants died when their boat sank off the island of Karpathos, near Rhodes. Survivors said they had departed from Turkey and had been hoping to reach Italy.
With Greek authorities increasing patrols in the Aegean and frequent reports of 'pushbacks' – a practice of returning migrants to Turkey without being allowed to apply for asylum – more migrants are attempting the longer, and more dangerous, route to Italy.
With AP, DPA