Greece rescues more than 500 asylum seekers off coast of Crete

According to the Greek coastguard, nearly 540 asylum seekers have been rescued from a fishing boat south of Crete.

The coastguard said in a statement that the people were discovered off Gavdos on Friday during a Greek search operation, without specifying where the boat had set sail.

The rescued asylum seekers were from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Egypt, Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan, and the occupied Palestinian territory, according to a coastguard spokesman who spoke to AFP.

According to the spokesperson, they were transported to Rethymno, a Cretan city, and their asylum applications will be processed after health checks.

The Greek coastguard reported that the border agency of the European Union, Frontex, Rescue 65 Men and Five Women from two boats in distress off Gavdos in a separate incident on Thursday.

More than a million people from the Middle East and Africa landed on its shores in search of protection in Greece during the years 2015 and 2016, leading to a surge in migration that also included Germany and other European nations.

While the number of asylum seekers trying to travel to Greece by boat has decreased since then, the number of boats trying to enter the Mediterranean islands closest to the African coast have increased significantly.

Many of these vessels have left Libya and other nations.

The new migration and asylum pact of the EU will go into effect in June, and Greece, along with Cyprus, Spain, and Italy, will be able to receive assistance from other EU countries for easing the pressures brought on by increased migration.

The European Council claims that EU funding and agency support are provided as part of the pact’s assistance.

Under the new pact, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has stated that his centre-right government will prioritize deporting asylum seekers whose protection claims are rejected.