Four migrants rescued on Greek-Turkish border: police

THESSALONIKI - Agence France-Presse

Hürriyet photo

A police patrol in northeastern Greece on Monday rescued four migrants stranded on the Evros river, the natural boundary with Turkey that is a popular migration crossing point into Europe.
 
The police used an inflatable dinghy to bring the three women from the Dominican Republic and a man from Sierra Leone to the shore, a local police source said.
 
Thousands of migrants and refugees attempt to cross the Evros into Greece every year and many die in the process from drowning or exposure to the cold.
 
Fourteen bodies have been recovered in the area this year according to police.
 
Greece, currently in the throes of a major economic crisis, is a major hub for illegal immigration to Europe from Turkey and the Middle East.
 
Nearly 100,000 people were arrested for illegal entry or residence last year and authorities are going through some 30,000 asylum requests by migrants and refugees, Authorities are building a wire fence on a section of the frontier and plan to turn a number of disused army barracks around the country into a network of holding centres to enable the screening of asylum seekers.