Hundreds of migrants moved from Crete to Greek mainland

Lavrio: More than 500 migrants arrived at the port of Lavrio near

Athens on Thursday after being intercepted south of the island of Crete, as Greece implements emergency measures to address a surge in Mediterranean crossings from Libya.

The migrants, consisting mostly of young men, were transferred overnight aboard a bulk carrier

after their fishing trawler was intercepted by Greek authorities.

Service vessels helped bring them ashore at the mainland port. They will be sent to detention facilities near the capital.

More than 200 migrants were brought to the port of Piraeus, also near Athens, in separate transfers from Crete.

The transfers to the mainland were ordered because makeshift reception centres on Crete have

reached capacity, with around 500 new arrivals per day on the Mediterranean island since the weekend.