Video drone from the rescue operation of migrants from the islet of Barbalias in Lesvos

Video from the operation to free the 30 foreigners and the newborn from the islet of Barbalias was published by EL.AS

She gave birth on a rocky islet as soon as she arrived in Greece

On the islet of Barbalias of the island group Tomaronisia, on the border between Greece and Turkey in the Greek territorial waters at the height of northeastern Lesvos, a young woman of African origin gave birth today at dawn. The African woman, along with her husband and 28 other immigrants – refugee men, women and children, all of African descent, had arrived on the island in a plastic boat coming from the opposite Turkish coast. As it became known, they went to the islet, considering that they had arrived on Lesvos. There they were excluded, which endangered their lives but above all the life of the newborn baby.

Coast Guard officers aboard a patrol boat, as soon as they realized the existence of immigrants and refugees on the island, organized a rescue operation. The parents and the newborn were transported to the port of Mytilene and then to the Hospital of Mytilene. All three are in good health. The rest of the immigrants and refugees were transferred to the quarantine area of ​​the camp at the Reception and Identification Center in Kara Tepe (Montenegro) of Mytilene, as part of the measures taken to deal with the pandemic.

“Women and men of the Coast Guard daily confirm that their goal is not only to guard the maritime borders of Greece and the European Union, but also to save human livesUnderlines the Minister of Shipping Giannis Plakiotakis after the rescue of a mother and her child who was born on a rocky islet in the Aegean.

The statement of the Minister of Shipping is an indirect response to the lies spread by Turkey.

Statement of YNANP Mr.@G_Plakiotakis
“Congratulations to the officers of the Coast Guard, who saved a mother and her child, who was born on the rocky islet left by unscrupulous traffickers. We save lives in the Aegean.” https://t.co/kscvAfWSRB
# Plakiotakis # ΛΙΜΕΝΙΚΟ # λέσβος pic.twitter.com/fGUqDyLGMr

– Ministry of Shipping & Island Policy (@naftilias) June 22, 2022

The statement of the Minister of Shipping in detail

“Women and men of the Coast Guard daily confirm that their goal is not only to guard the maritime borders of Greece and the European Union, but also to save human lives.

“Today they rescued a pregnant woman and her newborn child, a boy, who were found in critical condition on a rocky islet east of Lesvos along with 30 other foreigners.

“Mother and newborn were transported immediately to Lesvos and are in excellent health.

This is the greatness of the Coast Guard. I congratulate them and I am proud of them “.

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