Portuguese maritime police saves 54 refugees on weekend
Xinhua, September 13, 2016 Adjust font size:
Portuguese maritime police saved 54 refugees travelling in a boat in the Aegean sea on Saturday, the National Maritime Authority said in a statement on Monday.
"The team of maritime police went immediately to the boat and rescued all the people," the maritime police said, adding that there were four babies and children, 12 women and 38 men.
On arriving at the Skala Sikaminea port, they disembarked and were helped by Greek coast guards and personnel from EU agency Frontex and NGO.
One of the women was of Spanish nationality and pregnant, according to the statement. She had been living in Turkey for five years.
The maritime police has rescued around 3,618 refugees and migrants in total since October 2015, 881 of which were babies and 783 were women.
The maritime police is composed of a team of 13 and has been in the Aegean sea since October 1 last year, amid an operation named "Poseidon Sea 2015" carried out by EU border agency Frontex. The team is expected to be on the Greek border until September 30, 2016.
Over 850,000 people arrived by sea to Greece last year, according to the UN refugee agency, as conflicts in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq forced people to flee their homes. Endit