Around a hundred migrants were spotted on Wednesday by Greek police in Gavdos, a Mediterranean islet south of Crete, which in recent months has become a gateway to the EU for asylum seekers leaving from Libya.
“Cretan port authorities were informed at dawn on Wednesday of the presence of a group of 91 migrants in Gavdos
,” the coast guard said in a statement.
Twenty-eight people were transferred to a reception center in Crete, about 30 nautical miles from Gavdos, and 63 people will remain in a temporary municipal camp on this islet, according to the same source.
Police also announced they had arrested a 23-year-old suspected of being the smuggler.
No details have yet been provided on the origin of the migrants.
A thousand asylum seekers
Since last weekend, nearly 280 people have arrived in Gavdos, according to local media.
With an area of 30 km2 and only 50 inhabitants, this islet has seen a significant increase in the number of migrant arrivals in recent months, mainly from Tobruk in Libya, 170 nautical miles away.
Since the start of the year, a thousand asylum seekers have arrived in Gavdos, including many unaccompanied minors, according to the Greek Migration Ministry.
The town hall of Gavdos recently sounded the alarm about the lack of adequate resources in this small territory to help migrants, the majority of whom are nationals of African countries.
“We are under pressure from migratory flows in the south of Crete”
and
“the capacity of centers for unaccompanied minors has reached its limits
,” recently recognized Sofia Voultepsi, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Migration, stressing that Gavdos and Crete are currently a destination for migrants as was the island of Lampedusa in Italy before.