Cypriot authorities have raised alarm bells after four boats carrying Syrian and Lebanese migrants arrived in waters of Cyprus within a 48-hour span.
According to police, a total of 123 migrants are on the four vessels and about half of them have been permitted to disembark.
Some 21 migrants remain aboard a damaged boat (engine failure) that is adrift off Cyprus´ southeastern tip. Authorities said three women and nine children were taken off the boat and transferred to a Cypriot hospital as a precaution.
Some 33 migrants aboard a boat that police intercepted off the southern coast on Saturday afternoon, are returning back to Lebanon.
Meanwhile, 51 migrants on Saturday were transferred to a reception center after their boat from Lebanon reached a rocky beach that’s inside a U.N. controlled buffer zone.