More than 200 migrants were rescued on the morning of Friday, October 9, during four separate operations carried out within a few hours in the sea area south of Crete and Gavdos.
In total, at least 205 migrants were located on four boats and picked up with the assistance of unmanned aircraft from the European agency FRONTEX and Hellenic Coast Guard patrol vessels. In two of the operations, which took place about 24 nautical miles south of Gavdos, a total of 102 migrants were rescued from two boats. The people were taken to the port of Palaiochora in Chania.
Another boat carrying 60 migrants was located in the same sea area. They were picked up by a Coast Guard patrol vessel and then transferred to Palaiochora. Earlier, in the morning hours, two other rescue operations had taken place, in which a total of about 103 migrants were picked up.
The first operation took place 50 nautical miles southeast of Kali Limenes, while the second took place about 24 nautical miles southwest of Ierapetra. According to a briefing from the Hellenic Coast Guard, in all four cases the boats were first spotted by FRONTEX unmanned aerial assets, which helped coordinate the operations.
Weather conditions in the areas where the rescues took place were good.
