Portuguese coast guard rescue 47 refugees off the coast of Greece

Portuguese maritime police rescued on Tuesday (July 9) 47 refugees from two dinghies in the Aegean Sea and transported them to the island of Lesbos in Greece.

The rescued refugees included 21 children, 11 women, and 15 men, the Portuguese coast guard said in a statement.

The statement did not give details of the nationalities of the people rescued.

The Portuguese maritime police is part of the Frontex-Poseidon Sea operation, a coordinated effort among countries in the eastern Mediterranean region to manage irregular migration flows toward European Union (EU) member state territories.

Irregular sea arrivals from the Middle East and North Africa have dropped from over one million in 2015 to a little over 140,000 people last year, United Nations data shows, with fewer than 23,000 refugees crossing the sea to Europe so far this year.

(Source: Reuters)

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