KOS, Greece -- A massive ferry boat chartered by the Greek government arrived at Piraeus port near Athens on Thursday after picking up nearly 2,500 Syrian refugees at four islands in the Aegean Sea.
The refugees, most of them Syrians, boarded the Eleftherios Venizelos ferry in Kos, Kalymnos, Leros and Lesvos over the past few days.
Some 21,000 refugees landed on Greek shores last week alone. In July, about 50,000 people arrived -- more than all of 2014, the UN refugee agency reported. More than a quarter million migrants and refugees have arrived in Europe by sea in 2015.
The Greek government has been heavily criticized by human rights organizations for its pitiful response to the migration crisis.
Julia Kourafa, Médecins Sans Frontières' communications officer in Kos, told Mashable this week that her agency "has repeatedly asked Greek authorities to take the responsibility of creating a proper reception facility on the island of Kos that would provide decent and humane living conditions, but nothing has been done up to now."
"We warned them [the Greek government] there would be a mass influx of refugees well in advance," she added.
The Greek government chartered the Eleftherios Venizelos last week to temporarily accommodate as many as 2,500 Syrians and ease the stress on Kos. It's arrival in Athens shows at least minimal effort on the part of the government to act in the face of a deepening crisis.
But the ferry provided only a partial solution, as thousands of other migrants from Asia, Africa and elsewhere in the Middle East continue to sleep in parks and abandoned buildings, such as the decrepit Hotel Captain Elias.
Here in Kos, the situation has become increasingly disorderly in recent weeks, as the number of refugees arriving on its shores has skyrocketed. Authorities have failed to set up a permanent reception center, leading to chaos and even brawls between police and refugees, and among refugees of differing nationalities.
Syrians have been paid special attention by Greek authorities and treated as refugees because they are fleeing their country's deadly civil war, which has killed more than 200,000 people. That allows them greater rights under international law.
The preferential treatment has irked refugees from other war-torn countries, such as Afghanistan and Iraq.
Local media, citing the company which owns the Eleftherios Venizelos, reported that the refugees aboard the Eleftherios Venizelos ferr had to pay for their tickets to the Greek mainland, as the government paid only for the chartering of the ship, as well as the room and board of the refugees while at port in Kos.
After disembarking at Piraeus port, the refugees reportedly boarded buses to the Athens train station.
Some are expected to go to a new reception center in Athens, but most are likely to head north to the border with Macedonia, where they cram into trains bound for Western Europe.