ATHENS: Greece's coast guard said around 500 asylum seekers were temporarily transferred to a yacht for processing after being rescued in a dramatic operation near the island of Crete this week.

The migrants were aboard an abandoned fishing boat that reported distress late Monday while sailing southwest of Crete. Among the migrants, 128 are boys and nine are girls.

Greek authorities claim migrant smugglers are taking a longer and riskier route south of Crete as a result of increased patrols in the Aegean Sea by the Greek coast guard and EU border agency Frontex.

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According to a Coast Guard spokesman, 483 people in the group are Syrian, Egyptian, Pakistani, Palestinian and Sudanese. The operation is going slowly because of the large number of people, he continued.

On Monday, several nearby ships responded and a Greek Navy frigate was dispatched, but near-Gaelic winds prevented a sea rescue of the migrants.

It took half a day to tow the 25-metre-long fishing boat to the village of Palaichora on the island of Crete on Tuesday. The Coast Guard announced on Thursday that the asylum seekers had been taken on a Greek ferry on Wednesday night. The duration of his stay there could not be immediately determined by the agency.

According to Athens, it will immediately ask other EU countries to deliver the large group.

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In a letter to the European Commission made public on Tuesday, the Greek migration minister, Notis Mitrachchi, urged the organization to "immediately launch and coordinate a resettlement initiative in response to this (search and rescue) operation".

To be sure, saving lives at sea is vitally shared between member states. People migrating to the EU from Africa and the Middle East in search of safety and a better life often end up in Greece, Italy and Spain. Travel through.

According to the International Organization for Migration, the Mediterranean Sea has claimed the lives of nearly 2,000 migrants this year.

Every year thousands of people risk their lives at sea trying to enter the EU to escape war and poverty in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

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The vast majority attempt to sail directly to Italy in large ships from North Africa and Turkey or travel the nearby Turkish coast in small inflatable dinghies to reach the eastern Greek islands.