Refugee arrivals in Greece drop 90% as Syrians remain stuck in Turkey

The number of refugees arriving in Greece has dropped by 90% in April from the previous month as a result of the EU-Turkey agreement, EU border agency Frontex has said. 

Fewer than 2,700 people entered the Greek islands in April, with Syrians accounting for the majority of asylum-seekers trying to get into Europe. 

Frontex chief Fabrice Leggeri said that "the drop in the number of arrivals on the Greek islands was dramatic." 

Under the deal with Turkey, all refugees who cross to Greece illegally across the sea, including Syrians, are sent back. 

"After the agreement, the arrivals in Greece are almost over because Turkey keeps sending people back if they try to cross and that has led to a drop in requests to cross the Aegean Sea," Flavio Di Giacomo, spokesman at the International Organization for Migration (IOM), told Mashable. "In some days, we've seen zero arrivals to the Greek islands."

"Almost 3 million Syrians are now stuck in Turkey, we have to wait and see if they can find new routes to get to Europe," he said.

Frontex said the number of migrants traveling along the Balkans route from Greece north toward preferred destinations in Austria, Germany and Scandinavia has also dropped as a result.

Due to the drop in arrivals in the Aegean islands, more refugees arrived in Italy than Greece for the first time since June 2015. 

In April, a total of 8,370 people from Eritrea, Egypt and Nigeria arrived in Italy from Libya and Egypt. 

However, Frontex and charity workers agree there was yet no sign of refugees shifting from the route via Greece to the central Mediterranean route.

"We've seen a small surge in arrivals from Egypt due to good weather and shift of strategy, but they're mostly Egyptian minors, Eritreans and Sudanese," Di Giacomo said. 

He stressed that the Egyptian route has always accounted for almost 10-15% of the arrivals in Italy.

In the latest developments, around 1,000 refugees were rescued in the central Mediterranean off Sicily by the Italy coastguard, including two fishing boats from Egypt. 

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Initial reports said the refugees were from Syria, but they turned out to be Egyptians, Eritreans and Sudanese, with just one Syrian man. 

"We are concerned about the Egyptian route, because it's a long and dangerous journey which can take up to six days to reach the coast," Carlotta Sami, spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency, told Mashable. 

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