42 migrants rescued after boat breaks down off Crete
A merchant ship rescued 42 undocumented migrants early on Saturday after the boat they were traveling on experienced mehcanical failure, 35 nautical miles southwest of Crete, near Gavdos, Greece’s southernmost island.
The migrants were taken to Kali Limenes, on the southern coast of the Iraklio regional unit, where two of them were hospitalized, one for low blood sugar and the other for a knee injury.
According to state broadcaster ERT, there were 32 Egyptians (including four minors) and 10 Bangladeshi nationals on board the migrant vessel when it broke down.
Initial information suggests the stricken vessel had set sail on Thursday from Tobruk in Libya and was bound for Italy. The migrants were expected to be transferred to the city of Iraklio.
A week ago, 117 migrants, who had also disembarked from Tobruk, arrived at Kali Limenes.
Also on Saturday, a 32-year-old man from Bosnia-Herzegovina was arrested in Thessaloniki for illegally transporting four migrants into the country.
Police said he had picked up the four people, reportedly Eritreans, in a rented car from Evros on Greece’s northeastern border with the intention of transporting them for a fee to the northern port city.
