Lesbos News

One person has died and 12 people were missing on Sunday after a cargo ship carrying salt with 14 crew on board sank off the island of Lesbos, the Greek coast guard said.The Comoros-flagged Raptor had departed from El Dekheila port in Egypt and was bound for Istanbul when it reported a mechanical failure and issued a distress call early on Sunday, the coast guard added."One body recovered from the area," a coast guard official told Reuters adding that one person was rescued by helicopter and was taken to the island's hospital.Eight of the crew were Egyptians and the rest were Syrian and Indian

A Greek gunboat was nudged by a Turkish cargo vessel early on Friday while on patrol for unauthorized migrant crossings in the Aegean Sea, the Greek navy said.The gunboat "Armatolos" was on patrol off the island of Lesbos as part of a NATO operation when the incident occurred at 4 a.m. local time (0100 GMT).The Turkish-flagged vessel "approached and touched" the Greek gunboat, the navy said in a statement. It then accelerated towards Turkish shores and did not respond to subsequent radio calls from the Greek gunboat, according to the statement.The Greek navy said NATO authorities had been informed, adding that there were no injuries or any serious damage to the ship.

At least eight people, including a child, drowned when an inflatable boat carrying refugees and migrants sank off Greece's Lesbos island, the Greek coastguard said on Monday. The United Nation refugee agency UNHCR said the number of dead was at least 12. Citing survivors, it said 25 people were on board. Two survivors, one of whom is pregnant, were taken to the island's main hospital, the coastguard said. Lesbos was the main gateway into the European Union in 2015 for nearly a million Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans who crossed from Turkey. A deal between the EU and Ankara in March last year has all but closed down that route. Just over 4,800 refugees and migrants have crossed to Greece from Turkey this year, according to UNHCR data, and about 20 arrive on Greek islands each day.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on Saturday for countries to do more to help cope with Europe's migrant crisis, saying Greece could not manage on its own. Speaking in Athens before heading to the Greek island of Lesbos, the gateway into Europe for nearly a million people last year, Ban said Greece had shown "remarkable solidarity and compassion" in dealing with the hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing war, despite its economic hardship. "Greece should not be left alone to address this challenge on its own," Ban told reporters after meeting Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. "We must work together to protect people and address the causes of displacement.

She’s tough—capable of punching through 30-foot waves and riptides or smashing into rocks and reefs. But she’s also tender, providing hope to those in peril. Meet EMILY the robotic lifeguard—officially known as the Emergency Integrated Lifesaving Lanyard—a remote-controlled buoy that recently was used to rescue nearly 300 Syrian migrants from drowning in the waters off the Greek island of Lesbos. Created with support from the Office of Naval Research (ONR), several EMILY devices…

Two ferries carrying more than 120 migrants returned to Turkey from the Greek island of Lesbos on Friday, in the second round of arrivals under an EU deal with Ankara to stem mass migration to Europe across the Aegean Sea. The accord, which came into force on Monday, aims to help end a chaotic influx into the European Union of migrants and refugees, most fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and beyond, after more than 1 million arrived last year. Around 325 people have now been sent back from the Greek islands under the accord, which the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) has condemned and rights advocates say may violate international law. They are to be sent to a camp near Turkey's border with Bulgaria, to which the UNHCR said it had yet to gain access.

Three passenger boats return migrants from Lesbos, Chios; desperate migrants continue to cross despite deal. The first migrants deported from Greek islands under a disputed EU-Turkey deal were shipped back to Turkey on Monday in a drive to shut down the main route by which a million people fleeing war and poverty crossed the Aegean Sea in the last year. Under the pact criticised by refugee agencies and human rights campaigners, Ankara will take back all migrants and refugees who enter Greece illegally, including Syrians. In return, the European Union will take in thousands of Syrian refugees directly from Turkey and reward it with more money, early visa-free travel and progress in its EU membership negotiations.

Arrivals of refugees and migrants to Greece from Turkey rose sharply on Wednesday, just over a week since the European Union and Turkey struck a deal intended to cut off the flow. Greek authorities recorded 766 new arrivals between Tuesday morning and Wednesday morning, up from 192 the previous day. Most arrived on the northeastern Aegean island of Lesbos. Italy reported an even larger jump in arrivals on Tuesday, when officials there said 1,350 people - mostly from Africa - were rescued from small boats taking the longer migration route over the Mediterranean as the weather warmed up. The EU Commission said on Tuesday that the flows in the last week had reduced…

A total of 1,734 migrants and 16 people smugglers were detained by Turkish coastguard and gendarmerie in an operation on Friday, security forces said in a statement, part of a massive sweep to stop refugees reaching the Greek island of Lesbos. The operation was launched near the town of Dikili, in Izmir province on Turkey's Aegean coast, and involved the coastguard, navy and gendarmerie and was backed by air support, the military said in a statement. Authorities were still working to ascertain the nationalities of those arrested, it said. Reporting by Tula Karadeniz

Turkish authorities intercepted hundreds of migrants trying to reach the Greek island of Lesbos on Friday, in a major operation involving coastguard ships and helicopters, as European leaders clinched an agreement with Ankara to halt illegal migration. Around 1,200 migrants, many detained at sea and the others in hostels and streets on Turkey's Aegean coast, were being taken to a sports hall in the town of Dikili, a senior local security official told Reuters. The migrants, mostly from Syria and Afghanistan, would be questioned to determine their backgrounds and what action would be taken next, officials said. "I think there are many people running from war to Europe, and I guess it's a (problem)," said Issam Katib, 27, who fled from Damascus and was among those detained.

The German flagship of Standing NATO Maritime Group Two (SNMG2) FGS BONN is the first NATO ship to enter the area of activity for a first patrol around the Greek island of Lesbos. Over the weekend, NATO had expanded the area of activity into the territorial waters of Turkey and Greece, in close coordination with both Allies. NATO also expanded its cooperation with the EU’s border agency Frontex. “We are able to support the local authorities with our sensors, amplifying their capabilities.

ABOARD THE AGIOS EFSTRATIOS, Aegean Sea, Feb 11: Greek Captain Argyris Frangoulis lifts his binoculars and with eyes fixed on the Aegean Sea horizon, steers his patrol boat out near the Turkish border to a dinghy full of stranded refugees. He zeroes in on the target and gasps - "My God!" - another grey rubber motor boat packed with about four times as many people as it can hold, many of them young children and babies. "Everybody safe, OK?" he yells at the passengers, mainly Syrians and Afghans, approaching the coast guard vessel bewildered and in near-silence. About 50 people are pulled aboard one by one, smiling but too exhausted to speak. By the time they stagger wearily to the boat's rear, a dinghy is spotted in the distance.

Topaz Energy and Marine has emerged as an unlikely player in the effort to save refugee migrants risking their lives on the sea crossing from Turkey to Greece’s islands in order to reach Europe. While Topaz’s new emergency response and rescue vessel, the Topaz Responder, was primarily designed to provide safety support for offshore oil and gas producers, it is presently operating as a search and rescue vessel in the Aegean Sea. Contracted by not-for-profit organization Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS), the Responder is playing a crucial role scouring the often treacherous waters of the relatively short (10 – 14 nautical miles) crossing, acting as MOAS’ ‘mothership’ in its Aegean Sea Mission.

Twelve bodies were found on Turkey's western coast and 26 people were rescued on Tuesday after a boat carrying migrants bound for Greece capsized, the Turkish coastguard said in a statement. Responding to a distress signal sent in the early morning near Izmir, the coastguard found the bodies of at least five children according to Dogan News Agency. The coastguard said a helicopter and three boats were still searching for others. All of those who died, which also included one pregnant woman, came from Iraq and had tried to sail from Aliaga in Izmir province to the Greek island of Lesbos, according to Turkish newspaper Hurriyet. On Wednesday…

At least three of dead are children; Coastguard rescues 12 others from rocks. Turkish authorities said they found the bodies of 27 migrants, at least three of them children, at two separate locations on the Aegean coast on Tuesday after a migrant boat apparently capsized as it tried to reach the Greek island of Lesbos. The flow of mostly Syrian refugees and migrants braving the seas to seek sanctuary in Europe dipped towards the end of last year coinciding with colder weather, but the total figure still reached 1 million in 2015, nearly five times more than in the previous year. Seventeen of the bodies were discovered on the shoreline in the district of Ayvalik, while ten others were found in the district of Dikili, a gendarmerie official in the local headquarters told Reuters.

Greek coast guard searching for 38 migrants off Lesbos. Four children, two men and one woman drowned and 38 migrants were missing after their wooden boat sank north of the Greek island of Lesbos, the coast guard said on Thursday, as an extensive search operation continued for a second day. The coast guard rescued 242 people off Lesbos on Wednesday in what was thought to be the largest maritime disaster off Greece in terms of numbers involved since a massive refugee influx began this year. The search went on overnight. Four coast guard vessels were deployed on Thursday, assisted by fishing boats. Three helicopters were hovering above the sea.

Four people, a woman and three children, drowned and one child was missing after their rubber boat capsized off a Greek island late on Friday, the Greek coast guard said. The coast guard said it has rescued 13 people and was searching for the missing child after the boat capsized off the Aegean island of Kalymnos. Thousands of refugees - mostly fleeing war-torn Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq - attempt daily to cross the Aegean Sea from nearby Turkey, a short but perilous trip by inflatable boats, often in rough seas. Almost 400,000 people have arrived in Greece this year, according to the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR, overwhelming the cash-strapped nation's ability to cope.

A baby, two children and a woman drowned on Thursday after their wooden boat and a coast guard vessel crashed during a migrant rescue operation off the island of Lesbos, the Greek coast guard said. The boat, which the coast guard said was old, sank after the crash and 31 persons were rescued. The coast guard did not provide further details on the incident or the nationality of the victims. Thousands of refugees - mostly from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq - attempt on a daily basis to cross the Aegean Sea from nearby Turkey, a short but perilous trip by boat, often in rough seas due to poor weather. Almost 400,000 people have arrived in Greece this year, according to the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR, overwhelming the crisis-stricken government's ability to cope.

Placards in hand, travel agent Iakovos Bouchoris and his team scout for customers at Greece's busy Piraeus port, near Athens, where some 5,000 people arrived on Tuesday in a single day on ships from outlying islands close to Turkey. Instead of the usual groups of German, Italian and Korean tourists, the tour operators were waiting for Syrian refugees; and rather than touring the ancient ruins of the Greek capital, they were heading north to the Greek-Macedonian border. Greece's peak holiday season may have ended in August, but for many travel agents, business is booming in October. "We've been filling 20 to 25 buses a day, about 1,250 people a day," Bouchoris said, recalling a peak in early September.

A girl believed to be five years old died and as many as 13 migrants may be missing at sea off the Greek island of Lesbos on Saturday, the Greek coastguard said. Nikos Lagkadianos, a coastguard spokesman, said 11 people were rescued from the sea between Lesbos and Turkey and one swam ashore in the early hours. The survivors said they thought 13 of their number were missing. The girl was found unconscious and was declared dead later at hospital, Lagkadianos said. Tens of thousands of mainly Syrian refugees have braved rough seas this year to make the short but precarious journey from Turkey to Greece's eastern islands, mainly in flimsy and overcrowded inflatable boats.

About 200 unregistered migrants trying to board a ship scuffled with police and coastguard officials on the Greek island of Lesbos on Friday, a coastguard spokesman told Reuters. Police used teargas to disperse the migrants, a reporter at the scene for the Greek news channel ANT1 said. "About 200 migrants that were not registered tried to get on a ferry at the port and they were pushed back by the police and the coastguard," coastguard spokesman Nikos Lagkadianos said. Greece is on a front line of a migrant crisis that has seen hundreds of people, many fleeing war and poverty, arriving on its shores every day. European Union officials…

Greece will ask the European Union for about 700 million euros to build infrastructure to shelter the hundreds of refugees and migrants arriving on its shores daily, the government said on Thursday. The cash-strapped country has seen a rise in the number of refugees and migrants -- mostly from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan -- arriving by sea from nearby Turkey. Aid agencies estimate about 2,000 people cross over to Greek islands including Kos, Lesbos, Samos and Chios every day. The interim government said it planned to set up a new operations centre and take steps to improve conditions at existing refugee centers. Economy Minister Nikos Christodoulakis said the country will seek EU funds earmarked to address the crisis.

Greece ferried hundreds of refugees to its mainland on Friday to relieve the pressure on outlying islands that have been overwhelmed by thousands of people arriving by boat to flee Syria's civil war. At the same time, crowds of migrants massed on the Greek border with Macedonia, preparing to travel north across a continent that is struggling to cope with the influx of desperate people escaping from conflict and poverty. Just under 2,200 refugees arrived at the port city of Piraeus on Friday night on a car ferry chartered by the Greek government. It was the second shuttle in as many days as authorities attempted to ease overcrowded conditions on islands bordering Turkey. "I will go to Europe, I don't want any war.