With migrants facing long stays in Greece and their fate questionable, six migrants on the island on Chios took matters into their own hands, trying to swim back to Turkey.
The news was released by Greek harbour police last Wednesday report Kathimerini, after two separate groups of migrants were picked up several meters off the island’s coast on Monday and Tuesday.
Turkey, which is visible from the island, is located nine nautical miles away, a distance the migrants had originally crossed with makeshift boats.
According to police, the first group included four Iraqis who were attempting the swim with a rubber ring.
There has also been speculation by the media that those picked up were among the migrants set to be deported back to Turkey under the March 20 agreement between Brussels and Ankara, authorising ‘irregular migrants’ to be returned to Turkey as a form of discouragement.
By arriving on their own, police believe they would have been hoping to avoid being put in detention by Turkish authorities.
Since the agreement came into play, an estimated 45,000 migrants and refugees arrived in Greece before the March 20 deadline, and have found themselves in limbo since Balkan borders started closing in mid-February.