2023-07-17 14:09:38
Another wave of migrants is arriving in Cyprus as calmer seas encourage more people to make the dangerous Mediterranean crossings.
Report: Nathan Morley
Translation: C. Roubini Chinnapa9 CTC, Vatican News
Another group of migrants arrived in Cyprus via the calm seas across the Mediterranean. According to local police, 23 migrants were found on Friday off Cape Greco, on the south-eastern tip of Cyprus.
It is also noteworthy that the captain of the ship with 23 people including women and children was a 17-year-old teenager. He was arrested and will be produced in court next week. Two days earlier, a similar vessel with 23 people on board was spotted in the same location and diverted to another port in Cyprus. The passengers all boarded from Syria, paying thousands of dollars for a place on the boat.
Last week, the Cyprus Coast Guard intercepted a boat carrying 49 people off the coast of Paphos on the island’s western tip. Their boat reportedly left Lebanon for Italy on Monday. Sitting at the forefront of the people-smuggling route through the Mediterranean to the European Union, Cyprus is struggling to accommodate the influx of migrants.
According to the government in Nicosia, the steady flow of people arriving in Cyprus to seek asylum and attempt to emigrate makes up five percent of the island’s current population. The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR says 72,778 refugees have arrived in Europe from the southern region so far this year, including 71,136 by sea. In recent years, problems caused by the use of unseaworthy boats overcrowded by migrants have also become a serious concern for governments across the region.
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