Harrowing sail ends in Greece for Syrian refugees

TOPSHOTS A woman with two children sits on a boat carrying migrants upon their arrival at the Cretan port of Ierapetra on November 27, 2014. Around 700 migrants aboard a freighter that had been drifting in the Aegean Sea for two days began disembarking on the Greek island of Crete, local officials said. The migrants from Syria, Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq, include "a lot of women and children", said Theodosis Kalantzakis, the mayor of Ierapetra. AFP PHOTO / COSTAS METAXAKISCostas Metaxakis/AFP/Getty Images less TOPSHOTS A woman with two children sits on a boat carrying migrants upon their arrival at the Cretan port of Ierapetra on November 27, 2014. Around 700 migrants aboard a freighter that had been drifting in the ... more Photo: Costas Metaxakis, AFP/Getty Images Photo: Costas Metaxakis, AFP/Getty Images Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Harrowing sail ends in Greece for Syrian refugees 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

IERAPETRA, Greece — Hour after hour, the coast guard boats shuttled from the crippled freighter to a concrete pier, discharging a steady flow of humanity: Families with small children, black-clad elderly women, battered-looking youths with backpacks.

For almost 600 refugees, most of them fleeing the conflict in Syria for Europe, the harrowing journey on a smuggling ship that broke down in gale-force winds ended Thursday in the southern town of Ierapetra on the Greek island of Crete.

The Baris cargo ship lost engine power Tuesday in international waters, and limped into Ierapetra at sunrise after being slowly towed for 40 hours by a Greek navy frigate.

In brief interviews while being shepherded away by police, many refugees said they had fled violence by militants from the Islamic State group in Syria or Iraq.

“They attacked us and killed our people, so we came here to save ourselves,” said one man who said he was from Iraq. He only identified himself by his first name, Mohaned, to protect his relatives, who stayed behind, from retribution.

Another who identified himself as Qassim, from the besieged northern Syrian town of Kobani, said he and his family had spent 11 days on the Baris.

“It was a very challenging operation: A large number of people in a confined space ... after leaving stressful circumstances,” said Serafeim Tsokas, the head of Greece’s Civil Protection Authority. “After serious illnesses on the ship were ruled out ... everyone was brought ashore safely.”

Authorities said its passengers were exhausted but overall in good health. The number of refugees on board was revised down to 585 after all were brought to shore. Nineteen of them were arrested on human smuggling charges.

As dozens of Ierapetra residents looked on from behind a police cordon, newly-disembarked passengers received preliminary care and food before being taken to temporary shelter at a basketball arena. One young woman knelt and kissed the rough harbor concrete, and a child held a piece of cardboard that read: “Thanks for Greece government saving children in the ship.”

It was one of the largest single crossings of its kind in recent years. Tens of thousands of people fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East risk the journey to Europe every year, paying smuggling gangs to transport them in usually unseaworthy craft ranging from dinghies to aging rust-buckets. Most end up in Italy.

According to Greek security and health officials, about 500 of the refugees said they were Syrians. One official involved in the operation said the passengers had been charged $2,000 to $6,000 to be taken to Italy.

According to the latest figures from the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, at least 3,000 people have drowned or disappeared trying to make the trip this year — almost 2 percent of the estimated total of 165,000 to attempt the journey.

The 250-foot cargo ship lost power the same day Pope Francis called on European governments to do a better job of welcoming refugees in speeches to the European Parliament and Council of Europe. Francis said “we cannot allow the Mediterranean to become a vast cemetery!”

The mayor of Ierapetra, a town of 16,000 people, said he sympathized with the migrants. But stretched local authorities couldn’t offer them shelter indefinitely, Theodossis Kaladzakis said.

Senior Greek public health official Panayiotis Efstathiou said the Syrians will receive refugee status and be released, while other passengers deemed to be in Greece illegally will be interned pending deportation.