245 migrants rescued from deserted Aegean islands

BODRUM

DHA Photo

Some 220 migrants, who were left on the deserted Greek island of Kalolimnos instead of the nearby island of Leros, have been rescued by Greek soldiers. 

The migrants were left on Kalolimnos, a small island in the Dodecanese, by the human traffickers who told them that it was Leros. 

They survived in the harsh winter conditions with barely any food and water for 36 hours, lighting fires in order to protect themselves from the cold, Doğan News Agency reported. 

Soldiers only noticed that the migrants were on the island after spotting smoke from the fire. 

Fourteen of the migrants were taken to hospital, while 206 of them were brought to Greek island of Kalymnos.

Meanwhile, in a separate incident, 25 Syrian migrants who were abandoned by a human trafficker on the so-called “Devil’s Island” off the Turkish resort town of Göcek, instead of Rhodes, were rescued by Turkish coast guards.

The migrants, including 14 children and six women, told the guards that they have paid 2,500 dollars each to the human traffickers who promised to take them to Rhodes.