More than half a million migrants and refugees are waiting in Libya for an opportunity to leave for Europe, Migration Minister Thanos Plevris told Greek television on Sunday.
Plevris put the number at around 550,000. He said Athens was coordinating with Frontex, the European Union’s external border control agency, and with the Libyan authorities to combat people-smuggling gangs, detect boats before they leave and to block departures from the coast.
On Sunday, the Greek coastguard rescued 125 migrants in two boats found off the southern coast of Crete, according to Greek public radio. Given mild weather conditions in the region, the coastguard anticipates that other boats will have left the Libyan coast.
According to the UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, some 42,000 migrants reached the Greek islands by sea last year, thereby entering the European Union. The agency recorded 107 deaths in the eastern Mediterranean over the same period.