One hundred and thirty-nine vulnerable illegal immigrants who had been living in overcrowded Greek island camps, have been relocated to Germany.
According to Greece’s Migration Ministry, the group consisted of children suffering serious health problems and their immediate families, as well as 53 unaccompanied minors.
Alternate Migration Minister Giorgos Koumoutsakos said the flight to Germany was the first resettlement flight after a fire broke out at Greece’s largest refugee camp, Moria reception and registration center, on the island of Lesvos, earlier this month.
Earlier this week, authorities moved nearly 1,000 refugees from eastern Aegean islands to the mainland to reduce overcrowding on the island refugee camps.
Tens of thousands of refugees and migrants, including thousands of unaccompanied children, are living in squalid conditions in overcrowded camps on several Greek islands after arriving from the nearby Turkish coast. Many more are housed in camps, apartments and other shelters across the mainland.
The government continues to reach out to other EU countries to help share the burden.