Migrants stuck on Piraeus ship
Greece is refusing to accept 16 migrants who stowed away on a vessel that docked in Piraeus last week but the captain of the ship is also refusing to take the immigrants back to Turkey, where they boarded, authorities revealed yesterday. The standoff developed after the migrants were found hiding in a shipping container which was to be unloaded in Piraeus on Wednesday. They had stowed away on the Rita two days earlier when it sailed from Turkey. After providing medical assistance to the migrants, authorities refused to allow them off the Antiguan-flagged ship. Greece says that according to international law, they have to be returned to Turkey. The German captain, however, will not sail with the migrants on board because he fears they may stage a mutiny. The migrants’ nationalities were not made public.
