The Greek coast guard picked up 121 irregular migrants in two separate rescue operations in the eastern Aegean over the last 24 hours, with the total number of people located and taken to the nearest ports being 363.
The incidents point to a continue migration crisis in the region, with people-smugglers operating in western Turkey taking advantage of the mild weather to send boats and inflatable craft loaded with third country nationals towards the nearest Greek territory.
The coast guard located 49 third country nationals on an inflatable craft north of Ikaria on Monday morning, while another 72 were located on a wooden boat just south of the isle of Farmakonisi, itself only a short distance from the Turkish mainland.
Practically all of the third country nationals that are picked up by authorities or land by themselves on Greek territory subsequent file applications for political asylum, regardless of their country of stated origin.
