Migrants/Refugees

Migrants/Refugees boarding the ship in Kós to take them to Piraeus    

The flow of illegal immigrants and refugees across the eastern Med from N Africa and Asia Minor to Europe has been a major news topic all summer and we have heard of sailors avoiding this area because of the problem. We had seen some migrants/refugees in Sími and Lesbos earlier this year but the numbers were relatively small. Returning to the eastern Aegean it is clear that things have escalated dramtically. Particularly in the larger islands of Kálimnos and Kós, we saw hundreds of people living and sleeping in the open waiting for passage onwards, we have been told, to Piraeus. Our German neighbour in Kós said that numbers were relatively low on the day that we arrived, presumably because the stiff meltemi had put off all but the bravest from making the journey across from Turkey. However, with the more settled weather doubtless there will be more braving the crossing. On arrival in Greece the migrants/refugees undergo a basic administrative process and then some, perhaps all, we don’t know, are sent on by ferry. Meanwhile, between arriving on whichever island and leaving by ship they have to live somewhere and many of them live and sleep on the street. In Kós the number of people sleeping on the seafront road and in the park near the eastern archaeological site and the police station is sobering. Some have bags of possessions and tents but a large number seem just to have the clothes they are wearing and a groundsheet made from an inflatable boat or, if they are luck, a donated bed mattress. We saw a couple of men each carrying a Red Cross parcel but other than that there was no obvious evidence of the Red Cross or any other aid agency.