All passengers aboard refugee boat off Greek island safe: Coast Guard

Greek Coast Guard announced on Wednesday all passengers onboard a refugee boat which had issued a distress signal on the Ionian sea were safe.

The speedboat was found sailing adrift about 30 nautical miles west of Paxoi island and all the 29 passengers will be transported to Igoumenitsa port, according to Greek national news agency AMNA.

According to Coast Guard sources, the irregular migrants had set off for Italy from the coast of Preveza on western Greece, but the boat engines broke down en route.

One of the passengers called Corfu's port to alert authorities about the emergency.

Following the closure of Greece's northern borders in February, smuggling rings are seeking alternative routes.

More than one million refugees and migrants landed on Greece's shores since January 2015 to seek refuge in more prosperous European countries, according to official data.

Some 59,000 have been trapped in Greece since February, according to the latest count published on Wednesday by the Greek Refugee Crisis Management Coordination Body.

Despite joint European Union-Turkey efforts to stem the influx from Turkish shores under a deal sealed in March, boats with refugees continue to reach the Greek islands in the Aegean Sea on a daily basis.

At least 3,601 new arrivals have been recorded in the period between July 15 - the day of the attempted failed coup in Turkey - and August 28, according to data presented by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) earlier this week.

Source : XINHUA