Illegal immigrants detained off Symi
Coast guard patrols in the south Aegean have resulted in the detention of 19 illegal Afghan immigrants and four Turkish nationals within the last 36 hours, the Merchant Marine Ministry said yesterday. The 19 Afghans, including four women and five children, were apprehended after port patrol boats spotted them floating in a leaking wooden boat off the coast of Symi, a small island north of Rhodes, in the early hours of yesterday morning. Just a few hours earlier, port authorities on Rhodes had arrested four Turkish nationals after one of their patrol boats spotted the 15-meter Turkish-flagged Doluna Ivan floating suspiciously off the northeast coast of Symi. After a chase and warning shots fired by port authorities, the four men aboard the wooden vessel were taken to Rhodes while their boat was towed to Symi.
