EUROPE-MIGRANTS/GREECE-KOS MORNING Refugees continue to arrive on the shoreline of Greek Island

Record ID: 144192

  • Title: EUROPE-MIGRANTS/GREECE-KOS MORNING Refugees continue to arrive on the shoreline of Greek Island
  • Date: 13th August 2015
  • Summary: ****WARNING CONTAINS NUDITY*** VARIOUS OF WOMEN ATTENDING TO CRYING BABY SUNRISE WITH EMPTY DINGY FLOATING IN WATER
  • Embargoed: 28th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Greece
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA2YDZEUU1QNHHSDLFVXODJJGLL
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: More migrants arrived to the Greek island of Kos in the early hours of Thursday (August 13) morning, as Greece bolstered security at the holiday island struggling to cope with an influx of refugees.
    A small dingy packed with women and children arrived as the sun rose over Kos on Thursday, two days after frustrated migrants scuffled with police and the government pledged to ease the plight of the hundreds arriving daily on its shores.
    "We are all graduated from universities - they are doctors, graduated from economy, medicine. We are all students and graduates, but there is nothing now Aleppo. there is just war, just bombs. We left Aleppo to live our life," Firas, a young migrant from Syria, told Reuters as he arrived in Kos.
    "Children were so tough - so tough. No water, no food. they were all tired and there was screaming all the time. Six hours screaming," said Arras, another Syrian migrant.
    Greek Minister of State Alekos Flabouraris said a ship with a capacity for at least 2,500 people would be dispatched to the island of Kos, which has seen a spike in refugees in recent weeks.
    The cruise liner would be converted into a reception centre to process arrivals and would dock in the main port of the island, the minister said.
    Two riot police units were dispatched to Kos from Athens and police reinforcements from nearby islands were also drafted in, police sources said on Wednesday (August 12).
    On Tuesday, skirmishes erupted at a makeshift reception centre at a sports stadium during which police used fire extinguishing spray to disperse people.
    Hundreds of people, including infants, were still penned in under scorching temperatures at the sports stadium on Wednesday, waiting for papers that would allow them to travel.
    Cash-starved Greece, mired in its worst economic crisis in decades, has found itself in the spotlight in recent months as Europe grapples with a stream of refugees fleeing war and poverty. Tens of thousands have crossed into Greece from Turkey along its long island coastline.
    Dozens of tents lined a beachfront promenade leading from Kos's main port on Wednesday. There have been reports of harassment by private security personnel, medical charity Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said.
    While most arrivals to the island are not documented, a coastguard spokeswoman said on Wednesday more than 200 migrants were rescued in the past 24 hours.
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