Four new boats with a total of 194 migrants from Syria arrived at midnight from Lebanon, putting the Search and Rescue Coordination Center on alert.
The boats were spotted off Cape Greco. One of the boats had 110 people on board and the other three boats had smaller numbers. Two of the boats were taken to Ayia Napa marina and the remaining two to the port of Larnaca where they were counted.
All the migrants were taken to the Pournara Reception Center in Kokkinotrimithia and will give statements in order to identify the traffickers. As the director of the Interior Minister’s Office, Loizos Hadjivassiliou, told Philenews, the Navkratis Plan has been activated and all the agencies involved are on standby in case of even more massive arrivals due to the war in Israel.
“An inventory of the available means of the Republic has been made and there has been communication with the European Commission and an additional number of tents has been requested so that we are ready in case our capacities are exceeded”, said Mr.Hadjivassiliou.
