Seaborne operations involving the transport of dozens of third country nationals, ostensibly being ferried by migrant smugglers towards the large island of Crete from the North African coast, were reported overnight and in morning on Sunday, which coincides with Orthodox Easter in Greece.
According to the coast guard, three boats carrying dozens of people were spotted as early as Saturday night heading for Crete from the south.
By morning, a total of 94 people had been located. The entire group was expected to be transferred to the Kaloi Limenes harbor and then to a temporary facility in the city of Irakleio (Heraklio).
In the first incident, a Frontex vessel, assisted by a drone, located a boat with 34 foreign nationals approximately 44 nautical miles south of Kaloi Limenes. Shortly afterward, a Greek coast guard vessel, assisted by a drone, located a second boat carrying 22 people, about 45 nautical miles southeast of the area.
A third boat, carrying 35 people, was also located by a Frontex vessel and a drone, about 55 nautical miles southeast of Kaloi Limenes.
Improved weather and sea conditions and possibly a belief that coast guard personnel would be laxer due to the major holiday in Greece resulted in renewed people smuggling operations, which mostly emanate from the eastern Libya coast.
