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Cyprus rescues 26 migrants in high seas

Xinhua, November 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

Cyprus's coast guard rescued 26 people who were in a small boat drifting in choppy seas off the southeast shores of the eastern Mediterranean island Tuesday night, Defense Minister Christoforos Fokaides said Wednesday.

Rescuers located the boat 10 km off the southeast coastal area of Cape Greco at about 2200 GMT Tuesday. When they reached the boat it was half-submerged and one man was already in the water.

The migrants, who had set off from Tripoli in Lebanon on Friday, said they sent out a distress signal because they faced difficulties on Tuesday night.

They were trying to reach Greece but were abandoned by traffickers who boarded another boat during the night, said Fokaides, who directed the rescue operation of the Joint Rescue Coordination Center.

He added that the rescue center had alerted a patrol missile boat of the United Nations peace force in Lebanon to make sure that no other people were in the sea.

Sixteen people, including six children and two mothers, were taken to the hospital, and some were suffering from hypothermia. Eight adults were discharged later.

Authorities said they have arrested three men who were identified by the migrants as being the skipper of the boat, his assistant and the man who collected money on behalf of the trafficker.

Most of the migrants come from the Syrian city of Tartus and some of them had travel documents with them.

They said the trafficker charged 2,000 U.S. dollars for each adult and 1,000 dollars for each minor to take them to Greece.

This is the second case of migrants arriving in Cyprus in less than 15 days.

About 114 migrants came ashore in two boats at the Akrotiri RAF base, which is technically British territory.

The migrants are still in a facility at another British base with processing pending by Cypriot authorities.

The British Defense Ministry confirmed press reports that some of them protested Saturday at their living conditions and set fire to two tents.

Cyprus is not on the usual route of migrants because it is difficult to reach other European countries from here. Endi