- Title: Dozens of migrants rescued off Lesbos as Greece faces new surge in arrivals
- Date: 29th September 2019
- Summary: LESBOS, GREECE (SEPTEMBER 29, 2019) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SHOTS) 20-DAY OLD INFANT FROM AFGHANISTAN CRYING AND BEING WRAPPED IN THERMAL BLANKET VARIOUS OF VOLUNTEER FROM NGO 'REFUGEE RESCUE' WRAPPING THERMAL BLANKET AROUND CRYING BABY AS ITS MOTHER CRADLES IT TWO VOLUNTEERS WRAPPING BLANKET AROUND BABY ANOTHER MOTHER WEARING A WET COAT CRADLING HER SLEEPING BABY AND WALKING ON SHORE VARIOUS OF NGO MEMBERS HELPING MIGRANTS, MANY CARRYING CHILDREN IN THEIR ARMS, GET OFF GREEK COAST GUARD VESSEL AND ONTO SHORE THREE MIGRANTS HOLDING CHILDREN IN THEIR ARMS MAN KISSING AND CRADLING CHILD VARIOUS OF WOMAN HOLDING SLEEPING BABY WRAPPED IN BLANKETS VOLUNTEERS HELPING MIGRANTS PUT ON THERMAL BLANKETS TWO MIGRANTS WEARING THERMAL BLANKETS AROUND THEIR HEADS VOLUNTEER WITH FLASHLIGHT SHOWING MAN CARRYING CHILD THE WAY THROUGH DARK VILLAGE VARIOUS OF GROUP OF RESCUED MIGRANTS WALKING THROUGH VILLAGE RESCUED MIGRANTS ENTERING UNHCR (UNITED NATIONS REFUGEE AGENCY) VAN VARIOUS OF 20-DAY-OLD INFANT INSIDE VAN MAN AND ANOTHER INFANT INSIDE VAN TODDLER WEARING A HAT INSIDE VAN VAN LEAVING LESBOS, GREECE (SEPTEMBER 29, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PORTUGUESE COAST GUARD VESSEL WITH FRONTEX (EUROPEAN UNION BORDER AND COAST GUARD AGENCY) CARRYING A GROUP OF RESCUED MIGRANT ARRIVING AT PORT AND TOWING AN EMPTY RUBBER DINGHY PORTUGUESE COAST GUARD VESSEL ARRIVING AT PORT CHILD SITTING ON BOARD WRAPPED IN THERMAL BLANKET VOLUNTEER FROM NGO 'REFUGEE RESCUE' HELPING WOMAN DISEMBARK VOLUNTEER HELPING WOMAN CARRYING BABY IN HER ARMS DISEMBARK GROUP OF MIGRANT WOMEN AND CHILDREN STANDING AT DOCK VARIOUS OF WOMAN HOLDING CHILD WOMEN WITH CHILDREN IN THEIR ARMS
- Embargoed: 13th October 2019 12:18
- Keywords: thermal blanket rescue operation Greek coast guard Greek migrant crisis Lesbos Portuguese Frontex vessel
- Location: LESBOS, GREECE
- City: LESBOS, GREECE
- Country: Greece
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
- Reuters ID: LVA001AYPN32F
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Dozens of migrants, including a 20-day old infant, were rescued at sea off Greece's Lesbos island early on Sunday (September 29) as the country faced a new surge in arrivals.
Although no comparison to the major wave of 2015, Greece is seeing a sudden increase in arrivals of migrants to its shores.
In the 24-hour period between Saturday (September 28) and Sunday morning, 164 migrants were rescued at sea or landed on Lesbos according to the Greek coast guard. A total of 3,432 migrants arrived in the past week on Lesbos and other Greek islands close to Turkey.
Volunteers from the NGO Refugee Rescue waited in the pre-dawn hours on Sunday for coast guard vessels laden with rescued families to arrive at port, and helped the wet migrants put thermal blankets on themselves and their children.
A 20-day-old infant from Afghanistan cried in its mother's arms as two volunteers covered it up in blankets.
On Friday (September 27), seven migrants, including five children, drowned after their boat capsized in the Aegean Sea near the Greek island of Chios.
More than 7,000 migrants have arrived in Greece by sea in September alone, three thousand more than the same month last year, according to refugee agency UNHCR.
The increase in arrivals has piled additional pressure on Greece's overcrowded island camps, all of which are operating at least twice their capacity.
Charity Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) says about 24,000 migrants and refugees are trapped on Greek islands camps in "horrendous" conditions, with overcrowding causing a deterioration in sanitation facilities, a lack of safety, and increasing violence.
(Production: Vassilis Triandafyllou, Phoebe Fronista) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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