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Athens The Greek coastguard said Saturday it was escorting a vessel carrying around 50 migrants towards the island of Cephalonia in the Ionian sea after answering two mayday calls.
A spokesman said it could not confirm the nationalities or exact number of migrants aboard but added that they seemed"to be in good health." An Italian sea rescue helicopter joined three Greek patrol boats in an operation coordinated by EU border control agency Frontex to locate the vessel after receiving the distress calls. Italy has become the prime European entry point for tens of thousands of migrants since last year's EU-Turkish agreement to stem the flow across the Aegean Sea and since the closure of the Balkan route, also last year. The accord with Ankara came after 2015 saw more than 800,000 refugees, mainly Syrians, reach Greece from Turkey. (AFP)
