Greek coast guard authorities are in the process of a rescue operation since Thursday involving refugees stranded on the small islets of Paximadia, located off the southern coast of the municipality of Rethymno in Crete.
More than 40 refugees are said to be stranded after their boat started having problems, according to the person who informed port authorities, and they decided to land on the islets.
The two coast guard vessels have not been able to reach them so far because of strong wind blowing in the area.
“The winds are north-western reaching 7 on the Beaufort scale and the coast guard crews cannot approach [the islets],” Rethymno port chief Konstantinos Kastrinakis told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency.
He said the crewmen were able to assess through binoculars that there must be more than 40 people on the islets but could not determine whether there are any children among them.
