Published 11:20 IST, November 4th 2019
Italian ship rescues 151 migrants off Libya coast, docks at Sicily
An Italian offshore supply vessel has rescued 151 migrants in waters off Libya and brought them to the Asso Trenta docks at Pozzallo, Sicily on November 3.
An Italian offshore supply vessel has rescued 151 migrants in waters off Libya after bringing them to the Asso Trenta docks at Pozzallo, Sicily on November 3. It was not clear if the migrants would stay in Italy or be distributed among other European Union countries. Before this incident, Alan Kurdi, a German charity's rescue boat dropped 88 migrants off at Taranto off Italy's mainland. According to a deal, 67 of the migrants will be shifted to four other countries and remaining will stay in Italy. Gabriella Ficocelli, a Taranto official said that among the rescued migrants there were five unaccompanied minors who were exhausted and faced many consequences during their voyage.
Anti-migrant march conducted in Thessaloniki
The migrants were dropped eight days after being rescued in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya. On the other hand, the Greek government's decision to send migrants from the populated eastern region of the Aegean islands to the mainland was achieved with negligible opposition. Residents at both places tried unsuccessfully to prevent migrants from being sheltered in hotels in northern Greece. An anti-migrant march was conducted in the northern city of Thessaloniki on Sunday and was attended by nearly 100 people. A counter-demonstration drew a good number of crowd.
Migrants were tortured and asked to pay money
The migrants who have reached from the island of Lesbos to a port near Athens by military transport vessel on Saturday had to wait for several long hours in buses to get to stay at hotels finally being agreed by the hotel owners. The migrants were driven more than about 500km to reach their desired destination in northern Greece. On the other hand, a van carrying an estimated 15 Pakistani migrants toppled over on the main road of Thessaloniki on Sunday which took the life of one person and injured five others. According to reports, police raided a house in the village of Vaksince situated near the border of Serbia and rescued 12 migrants from India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, including two minors. The migrants were tortured and asked to pay 1,300 euros to the smugglers to carry them across the borders.
Updated 12:39 IST, November 4th 2019