Filenews 29 October 2023 - by Natasha Christoforou
Four new boats with a total of 194 migrants from Syria arrived at midnight in our country from Lebanon, alerting the Search and Rescue Coordination Center.
The boats were spotted off Cape Greco. One had 110 people on board and the other three smaller numbers. The two boats were transferred to Ayia Napa marina and the remaining two to Larnaka port where they were counted.
All migrants were transferred to the Pournara Reception Centre in Kokkinotrimithia and will give statements in order to identify the smugglers. As the director of the Office of the Minister of Interior, Loizos Hadjivassiliou, told philenews, the Nafkris Plan has been activated and all involved services are ready in case of even more mass arrivals due to the war in Israel.
''An inventory has been made of the available means of the Republic and there has been communication with the European Commission and an additional number of tents have been requested in order to be ready in case our capabilities are exceeded," Hadjivassiliou said.
