TURKEY RESCUES 330 SYRIAN REFUGEES BOUND FOR GREECE

Ankara, 28 Shawwal 1436/13 August 2015  (MINA) – Turkish coast guards have rescued 330 Syrian refugees in the Aegean Sea after failing to reach Greece as the number of immigrants attempting to reach Europe increases.

Members of the group said they had been travelling on eight small boats. They included dozens of children, at least five of them new-born, and women, some of whom were visibly pregnant.

“We were told Europe will welcome us but the door is closed in our faces… We will try again every day to reach Greece,” said one 23-year-old immigrant from Damascus.”Middle East Monitor (Memo) quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)  as reporting.

Several of the refugees said their boat had been stopped by armed Greek coast guard officers who ordered them to dump fuel, stranding them at sea.

A spokesman for the Greek coastguard, Nikolaos Lagadianos, said it “categorically denied” the allegations, saying an incident had taken place off the Turkish town of Bodrum, further south, but that the Greek authorities had not been involved.

Crisis-hit Greece has recently witnessed a significant increase in the number of refugees seeking asylum. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said 124,000 people arrived in Greece by sea this year.(T/P002/R03)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)