150 Migrants Rescued From the Mediterranean Are Taken to Greece

On Friday, the the Marshall Islands-flagged tanker "Aristofanis rescued about 150 migrants whose boat was drifting south of the Peloponnese peninsula in Greece.

RELATED: 

Greeks Mourn Left-Wing Composer and Activist Theodorakis

The tanker crew saw their wooden boat when it was leaking about 70 nautical miles southwest of the Schiza islet.

The tanker crew alerted the authorities and rescued virtually all of the passengers, some 150 people, as reinforcements arrived. It finally docked in the Paleochora port in Crete.

During the rescue, a woman fell into the sea and so far has not been found. A Coast Guard patrol boat, an Air Force, and a Navy helicopter are still exploring the area in an attempt to locate her.

The origin of the shipwrecked boat and the nationalities of the passengers are still unknown. According to local sources, the migrants wanted to reach Italy.

As a matter of fact, Greece is one of the most popular entry points to the European Union for those fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. This country is sadly known for the poor living conditions experienced by migrants in refugee camps.

A few days ago a large detention camp for migrants and asylum seekers was opened in Somos, one of the islands where most of them land. This camp has been widely contested for its military-style barbed wire nets and advanced surveillance systems.