International News

GENEVA,(APP/AFP): More than 2,000 sea rescue volunteers, who last year saved thousands trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe, have won the annual Nansen prize, the UN refugee agency announced Tuesday.
The Hellenic Rescue Team (HRT) will share the prestigious award with Efi Latsoudi, a human rights activist on Lesbos who helped provide a safe haven to thousands of refugees on the Greek island, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said.
HRT, represented by Konstantinos Mitragas, and Latsoudi, a volunteer at PIKPA village, “were both chosen for their tireless volunteer work during the 2015 refugee crisis on Greece’s shores,” UNHCR said.
It hailed HRT “for their round-the-clock efforts to save refugees and
migrants in distress from the sea,” and Latsoudi “for her compassion and care for the most vulnerable refugees and migrants arriving on the island of Lesbos.”
More than 850,000 people — most of them fleeing conflict in war-ravaged Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan — arrived on the Greek islands last year alone after often risking their lives on unseaworthy boats and dinghies.
Around 500,000 landed on Lesbos, which at the height of the 2015 crisis saw more than 10,000 arrivals per day.
Nearly 800 people died or went missing trying to make the perilous crossing from Turkey to Greece last year, UN data shows.