Greece rescued hundreds of migrants in two separate incidents off its southernmost island of Gavdos in the early hours of Friday, authorities said.
A total of 545 migrants were rescued from a boat that sent a distress signal in an operation involving three coast guard vessels, three ships from the EU border agency Frontex, and three nearby boats. The migrants were to be transferred to the port of Rethymno on Crete, Greece’s largest island.
Earlier, a Frontex vessel located 32 migrants aboard another boat off Gavdos. They were taken to Hania, also on Crete. All those rescued were reported to be in good health.
Gavdos, Greece: A migration hotspot
The emergence of Gavdos as a migration hotspot is a direct result of increased patrolling in the Central Mediterranean and the Aegean. Smuggling networks in Tobruk, Eastern Libya, have identified the 180-mile stretch to Gavdos as a “gap” in the surveillance net.
Earlier this month, the European Union’s 27 member states approved a major tightening of the bloc’s migration rules, including the controversial introduction of so-called “return hubs” for rejected asylum seekers.
The initiative seems to focus primarily on return or repatriation hubs for those deemed irregular or whose claims have failed rather than processing initial asylum applications.
Related: Greece Says More Than 50% of Migrants Claiming to Be Minors Are in Fact Adults