Hundreds of refugees, migrants arrive on Greek island

By Magda Panoutsopoulou

ATHENS

Italian naval forces rescued almost 70 refugees and migrants from Greek waters on Friday, after 200 more landed on the Greek island of Lesbos.

The Frontex force found 66 people stranded on the islet of Paspargos, near Chios, seven kilometers (4.3 miles) from the Turkish coast.

Their boat had entered Greek waters when it was spotted by the Frontex vessel. Passengers were transferred to the port of Chios.

Earlier on Friday, the Greek authorities reported that about 200 refugees and migrants had reached the shores of the eastern Aegean island of Lesbos. According to local media, most passengers were from Africa.

Greece has seen an unprecedented number of refugee and migrant arrivals over the past year as thousands of people have made dangerous attempts to cross the Aegean and Mediterranean before going on to northern and Western Europe.

Over 351,000 migrants or refugees crossed into Greece and Italy since the beginning of 2016 compared with 883,393 by this time in 2015, according to an International Organization for Migration (IOM) report released on Tuesday.

"The total number of migrant and refugee fatalities in the Mediterranean since the beginning of 2016 is now 4,715,” the report added -- 1,148 more deaths than the same point in 2015.