- Title: EUROPE-MIGRANTS/LESBOS BODIES Migrants drown after dinghy capsizes off Lesbos
- Date: 24th August 2015
- Summary: LESBOS, GREECE (AUGUST 24, 2015) (REUTERS) PORT OF LESBOS GREEK COAST GUARD BOAT CARRYING BODIES ARRIVING AT HARBOUR BOAT ANCHORING AT HARBOUR COAST GUARD ON DECK COAST GUARDS CARRYING BODY OF DROWNED MIGRANT FROM BOAT BOW OF BOAT COAST GUARD CARRYING BODY BOAT VARIOUS OF BODY ON LITTER BEING TAKEN OFF BOAT MAN LAYING BODY ON THE GROUND / ANOTHER MAN OPENING BACK DOOR OF VAN VARIOUS OF MEN PLACING BODY INSIDE VAN MIGRANT TENTS IN PORT MIGRANTS IN THEIR SWIMSUITS WALKING ALONG ROCKY BEACH MIGRANT WITH NYLON BAG WALKING IN THE BEACH MIGRANT WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN TENTS MIGRANTS WALKING AROUND THE PORT / OTHER MIGRANTS STANDING NEXT TO DOCTORS OF THE WORLD VAN GROUPS OF MIGRANTS STANDING MIGRANTS WALKING / BANNER OF DOCTORS OF THE WORLD IN THE BACKGROUND VARIOUS OF MIGRANT FAMILIES SEATED ON THE GROUND NEXT TO DOCTORS OF THE WORLD VAN MIGRANTS SETTING UP TENT IN PARKING LOT (SOUNDBITE) (English) MIGRANT FROM SYRIA, HADI, SAYING: "Water no, food no, nothing. Ticket no. Sleeping in the street, sleeping in the street!" MIGRANT SLEEPING BAREFOOT ON THE STREET UNDER THE SHADE OF A PARKED CAR (SOUNDBITE) (English) MIGRANT FROM SYRIA, FIRAZ, SAYING: "Five days, nothing! No boat! The boat is Sunday, Sunday to Sunday, Sunday to Sunday, nothing! Police. Nothing, nothing, nothing, go, go from here, go from here!" VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS, SOME HOLDING UP DOCUMENTS, GATHERING OUTSIDE TICKET STATION VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS SHOUTING OUTSIDE TICKET STATION MIGRANTS QUEUING FOR TICKETS VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS GATHERED / PORT POLICE SIGN IN THE BACKGROUND MIGRANT WOMAN WITH A FACE MASK TWO MIGRANT WOMEN IN NIQAB WITH LITTLE GIRLS SEATED ON THE GROUND
- Embargoed: 8th September 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Greece
- Country: Greece
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA5GT5XFYWM2MQ1CVXG19VK7A5J
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Two people drowned and five were believed missing when a dinghy carrying migrants capsized off the Greek island of Lesbos on Monday (August 24), as hundreds of migrants waited in long lines hoping to find a ticket off the overcrowded island.
The Greek coast guard rescued eight people on the northern coast of the island early on Monday, and recovered the bodies of two men.
Survivors told authorities that about 15 people were in the dinghy when it overturned. A search was underway in the area for survivors.
Scores of other migrants set up tents in the port area, waiting in long lines for tickets to secure them a place on the passenger ferry chartered by the government.
The ferry has made four trips in five days picking up migrants from Lesbos, Kos and other Aegean islands overwhelmed by the influx and drops them off at the port near the capital of Athens. The fare for each passenger is 50 euros.
But tickets are hard to come by.
Firaz, a migrant from Syria said he had been trying to find a ticket for five days, with no luck.
"Five days, nothing. No boat. The boat is Sunday, Sunday to Sunday, Sunday to Sunday, nothing. Police. Nothing, nothing, nothing, go, go from here, go from her," said Firaz.
Lesbos, which lies less than 10 km from the Turkish coast, has seen thousands of arrivals in recent months, mostly refugees from the Syrian civil war. In the past week alone, aid groups believe numbers have exceeded 1,500 per day.
Migrants must endure hardship while waiting for the coveted ticket, relying on organisations such as Doctors of the World for help.
"Water no, food no, nothing. Ticket no. Sleeping in the street, sleeping in the street," said Hadi, a migrant from Syria.
The migrants head to the Greek mainland and try to make their way north through the Balkans. Long lines snaked through southern Serbia by foot on Monday before jumping on trains and buses north to Hungary and the last leg of an increasingly desperate journey to western Europe.
Arrivals to cash-strapped Greece have exceeded 160,000 this year and have exposed massive shortages in Greece's available facilities to refugees, but also a striking discord in the European Union on handling the worst humanitarian crisis since the Second World War.
More than 2,300 people have died this year in attempts to reach Europe by boat, according to the International Organisation for Migration, mainly on the much longer crossing from North Africa to Italy. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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