14 kids among 61 people rescued near Lesbos

9/7/2015 7:53:33 AM

(MENAFN- The Peninsula)A volunteers sorts donated clothes for arriving refugees in Dortmund Germany yesterday where thousands of migrants and refugees arrive by trains.

BERLIN: The latest news as countries across Europe cope with the arrival of thousands of migrants and refugees.

A ferry captain has told Greece's Vima FM radio there were 14 children — including a months-old baby — among the migrants who were rescued after spending several hours in the sea after their cabin cruiser took on water and half-sunk.

The coast guard said Monday the Blue Star 1 ferry had picked up 35 people from the sea while it also notified the coast guard which picked up a further 26 people. The circumstances of the incident were unclear.

Since Friday the coast guard has rescued more than 2000 migrants in the Aegean.

The German government says it will spend 6 billion euros ($6.6 billion) next year to support the hundreds of thousands of migrants coming to Germany.

In a-late night meeting lasting until early Monday in Berlin Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition government also agreed to introduce legal measures making it easier to deport-asylum seekers from countries considered "secure states" like Montenegro Kosovo and Albania. Asylum-seekers will also get less cash in the future and more non-cash benefits.

German officials recently predicted that up to 800000 migrants will arrive by the end of the year many of them refugees fleeing war and persecution in Syria Iraq and Eritrea.

The government's aid package will include improved housing more federal police and language classes.

Greece's coast guard says a ferry sailing between the mainland and the country's eastern Aegean islands has been involved in a rescue of refugees or migrants near the island of Lesbos.

The coast guard said Monday the Blue Star 1 ferry had picked up 35 people from the sea while it also notified the coast guard which picked up a further 26 people. The exact circumstances of the incident were unclear.

All 61 were being transported to Lesbos the island on which most of the those entering Greece clandestinely arrive. Greece has seen more than 230000 refugees and migrants enter the country so far this year. The vast majority do not want to stay in the financially stricken country and head to the more prosperous European north on an overland route.

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