The Latest: Greece moves 570 migrants from overcrowded camp | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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The Latest: Greece moves 570 migrants from overcrowded camp

Refugees and Migrants carry their belongings as they disembark on a ferry with destination the port of Piraeus, on the northeastern Aegean island of Lesbos, Greece, Monday, Sept. 30, 2019. Authorities have been moving hundreds of migrants and refugees deemed to be vulnerable from the overcrowded Moria camp in Lesbos island to camps on the mainland. (AP Photo/Michael Varaklas)
Original Publication Date October 06, 2019 - 6:41 AM

BERLIN - The Latest on Europe's migrant crisis (all times local):

8:20 p.m.

A regularly scheduled ferry left the Greek island of Lesbos carrying around 570 migrants that used to live in the migrant camp of Moria.

Authorities say this is part of the plan to reduce overcrowding at the camp where about 13,000 people live in a space designed for 3,000. Migrants, most of them Afghans, have protested, sometimes violently, over the prevailing conditions, demanding transfer out of Moria and a quick response to their asylum demands.

Authorities say the 570 are among what they term "vulnerable categories" - families, single women with children and unaccompanied minors.

The ferry will arrive at the port of Piraeus on Monday morning. The migrants will be moved to a camp near the northern city of Thessaloniki.

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3:35 p.m.

Greek authorities say a Syrian toddler has drowned at a beach in southern Greece after the boy wandered away from his parents and exited a migrant camp.

The Ministry of Citizen Protection, which oversees Greek police, says that the boy was 2 1/2 years old. The boy drowned Sunday afternoon after leaving the camp in the city of Andravida in the western Peloponnese region.

An inquiry has been launched by Greek officials.

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12:05 p.m.

Germany's top security official says European Union nations need to work better together on the issue of migration or they risk facing a new flood of asylum-seekers that could rival that of 2015.

Following a trip last week to Turkey and Greece, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told the Bild newspaper Sunday "we need to do more to help our European partners with the controls on the EU's external borders."

He says "if we don't do that, we will experience a surge of refugees like 2015, perhaps even bigger." Germany alone took in 890,000 migrants in 2015.

The comments come ahead of meetings Tuesday with EU interior ministers on the issue.

Seehofer also tells the Welt newspaper that Europe needs to do more to help Turkey in dealing with millions of Syrian refugees.

News from © The Associated Press, 2019
The Associated Press

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