52 illegal immigrants have landed on Wednesday morning in the Greek island of Rhodes. They disembarked from a private yacht which transferred them from the Turkish coast.

Two Turkish smugglers seem to be respponsible. A 33 year old was arrested immediately by the port authorities along with a 25 year old who was spotted shortly after in the area of Aquarium and had earlier jumped in the sea when the yacht approached the port.
According to what has become known, the journey of the foreigners started from the coast opposite Rhodes in the yacht «ALPAY 4», which allegedly was skippered by the two Turks.

Overall 52 people were in the boat, three of which were women, 14 minors and 35 men of Syrian origin who allegedly told the port that they had paid about 2,500 euro each.

The yacht had arrived in Rhodes at about 9am and was supposed to enter the harbor of Mandraki when, due to captains mishandling, it went to “elafaki” behind Evagelismos in Rhodes.

The port patrol boat approached immediately the yacht ,while the illegal immigrants began to come out of the holds of the yacht ashore. All 52 of them as well as one of the smugglers were arrested by personnel of Central Port Authority of Rhodes.