Refugee Ship Headed for Greek Mainland

Authorities struggling to cope with arrivals; 21,000 people landed on Greek shores last week.

A passenger ship that is housing Syrian refugees set sail from the Greek island of Kos on Wednesday, heading for the mainland as authorities struggle to cope with a wave of arrivals.

 

The ship, which has acted as a floating accommodation and registration centre since Sunday, was heading for the northern port of Thessaloniki, Greece's second biggest city, where it was expected to arrive on Thursday morning.

 

It will stop at the islands of Leros, Kalymnos and Lesbos to collect more migrants, the coast guard's office said. But confusion reigned over where they will be accommodated after arriving at the port, or whether they would disembark at all.

 

Local authorities in Thessaloniki were taken by surprise to hear the ship would be heading their way but would hold meetings to handle the issue, the city's deputy mayor for social policy, Kalypso Goula, told Athens News Agency the municipality.

 

Athens has appealed to its European Union partners to come up with a comprehensive strategy to deal with the migrant crisis after 21,000 people landed on Greek shores last week alone.

 

But the government has also come under fire from aid agencies and the opposition for not doing enough to handle the crisis. Stavros Theodorakis, leader of the centrist opposition party To Potami, wrote to the parliament speaker calling for an immediate discussion in the assembly of the migrant crisis.

 

"Weaknesses in planning and coordination over immigration policy have created a situation of continuous emergency," Theodorakis said.

 

Many of the arrivals have escaped the Syrian civil war, making their way through Turkey before crossing the narrow stretch of water to Kos and other Greek islands in inflatable dinghies and small boats to seek refuge in the EU.

 

With conditions on Kos becoming increasingly chaotic, the Greek government chartered the car ferry Eleftherios Venizelos last week to accommodate up to 2,500 Syrians and ease the pressure on the island. Thousands of other migrants from Asia, Africa and elsewhere in the Middle East are sleeping in abandoned buildings or in the open.

 

The Greek Red Cross said it was delivering humanitarian aid worth 300,000 Swiss francs to people on Kos and so far some 300-400 migrants were given survival kits and packages for infants and women.

 

Many migrants have already made it to Thessaloniki, often crossing by foot into neighbouring Macedonia. From there, they try to head for northern Europe in the hope of finding more help and jobs that are not available in Greece, which is gripped by economic crisis.

 

Last week's arrivals in Greece were equal to almost half the number for all of 2014 and bring the total for this year to 160,000. This has strained an ill-prepared reception system that relies heavily on volunteers. The Syrians got priority in boarding the ship as they are regarded as refugees due to their country's civil war.

 

Arrivals from other countries such as Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, regarded as economic migrants, are camping out in filthy conditions, leading to sporadic clashes and brawls.

 

A spokesman for the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR in Geneva said Greece needed to show "much more leadership" in dealing with the crisis.

 

 

(By Alkis Konstantinidis; Additional reporting by Karolina Tagaris and Michele Kambas; writing by David Stamp; Editing by Philippa Fletcher)