NEWS

Coast guard on alert over Turkish tanker’s moves

Coast guard on alert over Turkish tanker’s moves

Greece's coast guard followed closely a Turkish tanker, suspected of carrying migrants, Friday, before it returned to a Turkish port.

The tanker was spotted at 8.30 am local on Friday between the islands of Chios and Samos, moving between Turkish and international waters.

Authorities, already alerted about possible Turkish attempts to move large numbers of migrants to Greek islands using tankers that would, as in a previous case, be deliberately beached, decided to follow the ship closely, with coast guard special units ready to board it if it entered Greek territory.

After fout tense hours, the ship went southeast and entered again Turkish territorial waters, near Rhodes. The ship's captain had not responded to the coast guard's attempts to contact him.

It is not known whether the ship was, in fact, carrying any migrants.

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