Today Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz visited the island of Lesbos, where they were met by the black flags raised on the city hall on occasion of the three-day mourning announced by the municipality.
The Aegean drama apparently has no end. Yesterday morning another five refugees died in the sea near Skala Sikamnia on the island of Lesbos. They were two men, one woman and two children who were travelling in a plastic boat with another 65 people. Eight people fell into the sea but only three of them had been taken out alive.
"The criminal activities of smugglers should end. They are sending refugees on floating coffins," Lesbos' mayor Spyros Galinos told the newspaper Kathimerini yesterday afternoon, shortly after the common religious prayer performed at the statue of the Anatolian mother in Mytilene with the participation of the Archbishop of Mytilene and Muslim priests. "We want to send a message to the world to intervene to stop this evil," said Spyros Galinos.
The three-day mourning ended today, which Mytilene municipality had announced to commemorate dozens of dead migrants and refugees who drowned trying to reach the island of Lesbos, "victims of the heinous crime, committed every day by the unscrupulous traffickers, human traffickers." The situation is so dramatic that there is no place to bury the dead refugees on the island. Today the mortal remains of drowned migrants are stored in refrigerators and rooms in the morgue, in a refrigerating container that has been put in use, and there is another one that is ready to be used. "We have found a place to expand the cemetery but we must quickly overcome bureaucratic procedures. It is one of the things that I will ask the Prime Minister during his visit to the island," added the mayor. According to him, yesterday the number of migrants and refugees exceeded 15,000, as the departure of those who are registered was suspended due to the strike of the Panhellenic Seamen's Federation. "Society is at the end of its tether. We have turned to the Ministry and the Federation to find a solution," says Yiannis Galinos.
Meeting of mayors
The mayors of the islands on the 'front line' (Lesbos, Samos, Chios and Kos), together with the bishops of the Aegean Sea will meet with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Athens tomorrow. "We want concrete assistance to meet the increased emergency needs. Moving sheds, bathrooms and, mainly, to cancel the ban on recruiting new staff at municipalities under the memorandum, because without the necessary personnel we are unable to help the thousands of people," said Samos island's mayor Michalis Angelopoulos. Yesterday there were over 3,800 refugees and migrants on the island. The municipality with the help of volunteers has provided food to thousands of people in Malagari and the army has provided food for three days for another 1,000 people at the refugee centre.
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