Drifting freighter carrying migrants towed to Greek island | Top stories

ATHENS, Greece – A small freighter carrying 382 people, almost all migrants, has been towed to the Greek island of Kos and 375 of the passengers have been transferred to a special center for migrants, the Greek Ministry of Migration and Asylum.

A woman was transferred to a health center on the neighboring island of Karpathos, while six people were held for questioning. Asylum applications are being processed, the ministry added.

All passengers will be quarantined, the ministry said, adding that their stay on the island will be temporary.

The Turkish-flagged freighter was located off the island of Greece on Friday and towed to a “safe anchorage” on Saturday off Kos, near the Turkish coast.

Coastguard officials said the boat’s passengers were mostly men and mostly from Afghanistan. Sunday’s announcement made no mention of the passengers’ ethnicity.

Greece formally asked Turkey to take back the ship which, according to the coast guard, left the Turkish coast and was headed for Italy.

“We informed the EU that Turkey refused to take back its ship. … It is time for the EU to act and provide hard-hitting solidarity and ensure that the EU / Turkey declaration is respected, ”Migration and Asylum Minister Notis Mitarakis said on his twitter account.

The EU and Turkey have signed an agreement which obliges Turkey to take back migrants entering the EU who have not been granted asylum. But Turkey, which itself now hosts more than 3 million migrants, continues to be reluctant and uses the issue as a political lever.