Leros
Firemen evacuate hospital in Leros
A hospital was evacuated and swimmers were stranded on a beach in southern Leros, an island in the eastern Aegean, as firemen battled a blaze that started in low vegetation in the area of Merikia on Friday, a local website reported.
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Migrant arrivals pick up, camps burst at the seams
Migrant arrivals on Greece's northeastern Aegean islands have picked up as hundreds of asylum seekers are attempting to cross the sea from Turkey and reach the European Union on a daily basis.
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Koumoutsakos to Kathimerini: Worrying increase of migrant flows in the Aegean
The Greek government is deeply concerned over the reported 17 percent increase in migrant and refugee arrivals in recent weeks, says Alternate Minister for Citizens' Protection Giorgos Koumoutsakos, who is responsible for Greece's migration policy, in an interview with Kathimerini. More than 20,000 people are currently stranded on the Greek islands of Lesvos, Samos, Chios, Kos and Leros.
Dozens of migrants rescued off Alexandroupolis, Farmakonisi
Greece's Coast Guard said it rescued 49 migrants from a dinghy sailing off the northern city of Alexandroupolis early Thursday morning.
The rescuees were transferred safely to the port of Alexandroupolis where the local port authority will investigate the incident.
The coast guard did not provide details on their nationalities.
Two Turkish F-16s violate Greek air space
Two Turkish fighter jets entered Greek air space above the islet of Kinaros on Tuesday morning, according to the state-run Athens-Macedonian News Agency.
The pair of F-16s were flying at an altitude of 27,000 feet when they were spotted at 9.34 a.m. above the islet west of Kalymnos and Leros, and east of Amorgos in the eastern Aegean Sea.
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Migrant arrivals on islands peak as weather improves
The influx of undocumented migrants to the Aegean islands from neighboring Turkey intensified last week as the weather improved, even as reception centers remain overcrowded.
A total of 662 people arrived on the islands of the eastern Aegean last week, compared with 444 the week before that. Overall 1,866 landed on the islands of Lesvos, Samos, Chios, Kos and Leros last month.
New overflight by Turkish jets in eastern Aegean
A pair of Turkish F-16 fighter jets on Wednesday entered Athens' FIR in the eastern Aegean without submitting a flight plan state-run news agency ANA-MPA reported.
The jets flew at 26,000 feet over the tiny rocky islets of Mavra, located between Amorgos and Leros.
The two F-16s were intercepted by Greek fighter jets, as per the international rules of engagement.
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Healing the scars of decades of asylum confinement
Experts are helping former inmates of the Leros Psychiatric Hospital to recuperate from their time at the notorious island facility.
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About 2,000 migrants arrived on Greek islands in January
Some 2,075 migrants and refugees arrived on the Greek islands in January, according to the latest data by the Hellenic Coast Guard.
In the same month, two traffickers were arrested and seven vessels were confiscated.
The arrivals figure for January was lower than the 3,183 recorded in December but higher than the 1,560 that arrived in January 2018.
Two new migrant reception centers to open on mainland
As authorities seek to reduce the pressure on migrant reception centers on the Aegean islands of Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Kos and Leros by transferring hundreds of people to the mainland, there are plans to open another two centers in central and northern Greece.