Greece is entry point for nearly half of all migrants to Europe
- 9 years ago
For the second time in two days, the ferry ‘Venizelos’ docks in Piraeus port, Athens, carrying some 2,000 migrants from the island of Lesbos, most of them Syrian, and some from Afghanistan.
In Lesbos, conditions are makeshift and difficult, the facilities insufficient for handling so many migrants.
One Syrian migrant said that people helped them in the capital, Mytileni, but with no apparent support from the government or any UN organisation: “They just looked on and did nothing, only looked and took photos.”
The journey from Syria to neighbouring Turkey costs a migrant some 400 euros, we are told; for passage from Turkey to the Greek eastern Aegean Sea, to Lesbos, prices range as high as 1,500 euros.
Maria Galinou, with the Salvation Army, said: “The first thing these frightened, exhausted people want is to be told where they should go, running from place to place with just a piece of paper.”
Off the boat, the migrants board buses that take them to Piraeus train station, whe
In Lesbos, conditions are makeshift and difficult, the facilities insufficient for handling so many migrants.
One Syrian migrant said that people helped them in the capital, Mytileni, but with no apparent support from the government or any UN organisation: “They just looked on and did nothing, only looked and took photos.”
The journey from Syria to neighbouring Turkey costs a migrant some 400 euros, we are told; for passage from Turkey to the Greek eastern Aegean Sea, to Lesbos, prices range as high as 1,500 euros.
Maria Galinou, with the Salvation Army, said: “The first thing these frightened, exhausted people want is to be told where they should go, running from place to place with just a piece of paper.”
Off the boat, the migrants board buses that take them to Piraeus train station, whe