The number of new arrivals, at an average of 100 a day, is however considerably lower than the peak of several thousand daily last summer.
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They flew to the northeastern Greek city of Alexandroupolis on July 16 and say they fear they would not face a fair trial and that their lives would be at risk in Turkey. A coast guard official told DPA news agency that the good weather was a likely reason behind the increase, with the trip from the nearby Turkish coast to the islands being typically a risky one. More than 10,700 of those are on the country’s eastern Aegean islands, many living in crowded camps that have long surpassed capacity, particularly on Chios, Lesbos and Samos.
The Greek coast guard said Wednesday that more than 300 migrants have been rescued from the Aegean Sea over the past nine days.
While the numbers are much lower than previous year, closed camps on the islands mean that families are unable to leave.
Greece as a whole is housing just over 58,000 migrants, most of whom have applied for asylum.
“It’s absolutely disgraceful that refugees and migrants have been living in dirty, unsafe conditions for more than four months with no end in sight”, Dimmer continued.
Greece’s coast guard also rescued dozens of migrants whose boat ran aground on a deserted islet off the coast of the southwestern tip of the PeloponneseGreece, islet Sapientza. It was not immediately clear what type of boat they had been on, where they had set sail from or where they had been sailing to.
The migrants have been transported to the mainland, where they will be registered and identified, harbor police said.
The 35 migrants got arrested and are held at Hellenic Coast Guard’s building in Mykonos main port.
It is the first time migrants reach Greece’s most touristic island, showing new trends as mid-August is the first time after March’s EU – Turkey statement that migrant arrivals seem to be spiking again at the last few hours.
Increasing numbers of migrants have turned to alternate and more risky ways of getting to Europe following the implementation of the EU-Turkey deal and border closures on the Balkan route used a year ago by tens thousands of people.
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Hundreds have died making the perilous journey across the Mediterranean from the north African coast to Italy.
