EUROPE-MIGRANTS/ LESBOS UPDATE Migrants continue to arrive on Greek island as camps overcrowd

Record ID: 143028

  • Title: EUROPE-MIGRANTS/ LESBOS UPDATE Migrants continue to arrive on Greek island as camps overcrowd
  • Date: 22nd August 2015
  • Summary: SKALA SYKAMINIAS, LESBOS, GREECE (AUGUST 22, 2015)(REUTERS) RUBBER DINGHY FILLED WITH MIGRANTS WEARING LIFE JACKETS IN THE SEA DINGHY LANDING ON SHORE/ OTHER MIGRANTS HELPING MIGRANTS DISEMBARK VARIOUS OF MIGRANTS AND CHILDREN GETTING OFF THE BOAT MIGRANTS CELEBRATING ON SHORE/ MIGRANT THROWING LIFE PRESERVER IN THE AIR COUPLE HUGGING AND KISSING WOMEN HUGGING/ WOMAN HUGGI
  • Embargoed: 6th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Greece
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVACI1MZHI5BEIHP58YR6QO5911I
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Rubber dinghy boats jam-packed with migrants and refugees continued to arrive unabated on Saturday (August 22) as the calm seas made it possible for them to make the crossing from Turkey to the Greek islands.
    Migrants and refugees, mainly families from war-torn Syria, paid 1500 dollars for a seat in boats filled over capacity to land on the rocky, northern shores of Lesbos and then made their way on foot to camps outside the Aegean island's main town.
    The migrants hugged and kissed their loved ones upon safely arriving on dry land.
    Nadra, a refugee from Syria, was so relieved to have finally fled the fighting and then difficult journey, she could barely speak.
    "So dangerous trip, I can't speak, I can't focus because it's so hard. I have so much children, women, pregnant women, I can't talk so much," she said after landing on the beach.
    After arriving on the northern beaches, which are the closest point to Turkey, the migrants must make a 60 kilometre trek in the countryside to get to Mytilene, the island's main town, in order to register with authorities and get temporary papers to continue their journey.
    Two to three thousand refugees have been arriving in Lesbos daily, more than a three-fold increase on average daily numbers recorded in July, according to the International Rescue Committee, and stretching the municipality's resources to breaking point.
    Greece began ferrying hundreds of mainly Syrian refugees to its mainland on Thursday (August 20) in an attempt to ease the overcrowded conditions on its islands.
    But one reception centre in Lesbos was still holding about 2,000 people, while an estimated 4,000 were sleeping rough on the streets.
    "This camp no have water, eating little, you see, I sleep outside, not inside the tent, but my family inside," said Abdul el Moti, a migrant from Syria's Idlib province, who left the country when his sister died inside their home after it was flattened by a bomb.
    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.
    Refugees typically head northwards by train or bus to the city of Thessaloniki, hoping for passage into Macedonia and from there to central Europe.
    Although Macedonia closed its border with Greece on Friday (August 21) in order to stem the northward flow, thousands of migrants stormed across the border on Saturday, overwhelming security forces who threw stun grenades and lashed out with batons.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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