Thousands of Syrians ferried to Greece as islands despair

<g data-gr-id="19">A Greek </g>government-chartered ferry was transporting some 2,600 Syrian refugees to the Greek mainland on Wednesday, as islands struggling with an influx of migrants warned that the crisis is endangering public health.

The Eleftherios Venizelos left the island of Kos with some 1,700 Syrian refugees on board and was expected to arrive in the northern port city of Thessaloniki tomorrow morning, after calling at the islands of Kalymnos, Leros and Lesbos to pick up another 900 people.

The Syrians will be put on buses to the border with Macedonia, officials said. “The situation is out of control,” Leros mayor Michalis Kolias said in a letter to the government, asking for help in getting hundreds of migrants off the island.

“The lives of irregular migrants and of the island’s residents and visitors are in danger,” Kolias said, pointing to health risks from overcrowding. A record 107,500 migrants arrived at the European Union’s borders last month, according to new figures released by border agency Frontex, a dramatic increase that is creating a humanitarian crisis for the 28-nation bloc. 

Greece has seen around 160,000 migrants - virtually all of them fleeing war and persecution in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq - land on its shores since January, according to the UN refugee agency.