Dozens of migrants intercepted in three incidents as inflows continue unabated

As Greece struggles to manage the biggest spike in migrant and refugee arrivals since the start of the crisis in 2015, the Hellenic Coast Guard intercepted 116 people sailing from Turkey in three separate incidents on Tuesday morning alone.

The first incident, according to the state-run Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA-MPA), involved 27 migrants on an inflatable dinghy, who were spotted southwest of the port of Alexandroupoli in northern Greece in the early hours of Tuesday.

A speedboat was then intercepted off Farmakonisi in the eastern Aegean, carrying 42 passengers who were then taken to the island to be processed, while the third incident involved 47 migrants and refugees sailing off the coast of Samos, also in the eastern Aegean.

According to official government figures released last week, arrivals from January 1 to September 15 came to 46,100, an...