A rusting fishing boat carrying around 500 migrants docked on the Greek island of Crete on Tuesday after being dramatically rescued in near-gale force winds.
An AFP photographer saw the wrecked ship crammed with men, some peering out of holes cut in the hull, apparently to prevent those in the hold from suffocating.
Hellenic Red Cross rescue workers and medical staff got ready to help passengers disembark and take them to the nearest hospital after the boat reached the small Cretan coastal town of Palaiochora.
“About 500 migrants” were on board, tweeted Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi.
“I will ask the European Commission to activate resettlement to other member states as part of EU solidarity,” said the minister.
State television ERT said the boat was mainly carrying asylum seekers from Egypt and Syria. Hundreds of children on board were initially allowed to disembark for medical tests, it said.
The Greek Coast Guard said the migrants were safe and the fishing boat sent an emergency call after midnight on Monday as it sailed south of Crete.
– Earlier rescue canceled –
A Greek Navy frigate, two cargo ships, a tanker and two Italian fishing boats have been dispatched to help the vessel, which was adrift in winds exceeding 30 kilometers per hour, the Coast Guard said.
An earlier attempt to rescue the asylum-seekers while the boat was still at sea had to be canceled due to weather conditions, it said.
Migrant smugglers are increasingly taking a longer and more dangerous route south of Crete, Greek officials say, due to increased patrols in the Aegean by the Greek Coast Guard and the EU border agency Frontex.
“Eighty percent of the flows from Turkey go directly to Italy,” Mitarachi told Skai TV last week.
Last month, a sailing boat believed to have 95 people on board sank off the island of Kythera, south of the Peloponnese peninsula.
The boat went under a huge vertical cliff. At least eight people died and survivors – mostly from Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq – were hauled to safety using ropes and a construction crane in a frantic operation before dawn.
Greece, Italy and Spain are among the countries used by people fleeing Africa and the Middle East in search of safety and a better life in the European Union.
The Hellenic Coast Guard said it rescued about 1,500 people in the first eight months of the year, compared to fewer than 600 last year.
Dozens more have died in sinkings over the past month.
The International Organization for Migration has killed and missing nearly 2,000 migrants in the Mediterranean this year.
