Bulgarian Ship Participating in Frontex Mission Rescues 900 Migrants Near Lesbos

The Bulgarian border police ship Obzor 525 participating in the Poseidon Rapid Intervention mission of Frontex rescued around 900 migrants near the Greek island of Lesbos on Thursday.

The ship, which is helping Greece in tackling the migrant pressure on the external sea borders of the EU in the area of Lesbos, was on patrol between the port of Mytilene and the Turkish coast.

The migrants, whose nationalities were not immediately known, disembarked from the Bulgarian vessel at Mytilene.

Frontex approved the participation of Obzor with a crew of 32 border officers at the end of December last year.

Having a length of 43 metres, Obzor can accommodate much more migrants than the small patrol cutters of Frontex which have a maximum capacity of fifty people.

On Thursday, the Bulgarian vessel completed three journeys between Mytilene and the Turkish coast, a distance of around eight kilometers.

Frontex said that it is taking aboard all migrants it encounters at sea because bad weather during the winter is making the crossing more dangerous than in the summer.