On Wednesday, Syrigos maintained, four ministry employees were trying to hand out to Syrians printed materials in Greek, English and Arabic, with explanations on the process of granting refugee status. But the leaflets were immediately taken away by people who presented themselves as protest coordinators. Another two ministry employees were not even allowed to come closer to the Syrians.
While all this was taking place in Athens, the Greek coastguard, assisted by Navy divers, successfully completed the two-day operation of rescuing 595 illegal immigrants, who were found in a cargo ship at sea south of Crete. 150 of them were women and there were 80 children as well. They were all examined by a 16-strong medical crew, and no health issues were found. The children were vaccinated against polio today.
Photo: the Greek Ministry of health
The Coastguard in Ierapetra arrested 21 people, two of whom are believed to be traffickers. Seven others were crew members. Authorities have also detained 12 immigrants who had caused unrest on board the ship.
Photo: the Greek Ministry of health
18 of the immigrants were hospitalised. Among them, there was one woman in advanced pregnancy who was whisked to hospital by helicopter straight from the ship. The rest were sheltered in a sports hall where a clinic was set up, with paediatricians as part of the medical team.
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