The Marella Discovery picked up 111 migrants, including 33 children, near Greece's Peloponnese peninsula. Despite a large fall in migrants crossing the Mediterranean, six people die each day making the journey.
Image: Image Images/G. Rettinghaus
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A Maltese-registered cruise ship sailing close to the Greek mainland has rescued more than a hundred migrants, the country's coast guard said on Sunday.
The migrants were picked up by the Marella Discovery, an 11-deck luxury liner equipped with swimming pools, a casino and a theater.
The migrants' boat was found in distress on Saturday evening, some 74 kilometers (40 nautical miles) off Greece's Peloponnese peninsula.
The coast guard did not say which countries the migrants were from or where their boat departed.
Migrants taken to Greek port
The passengers were taken to the Greek port of Kalamata.
Two of the migrant boat's operators were arrested.
Several times a week, boatloads of people — many of them from Africa — attempt to cross the Mediterranean Sea for a better life in Europe.
Greece, Italy and Spain have borne the brunt of the influx of newcomers over the past decade, many of whom are picked up by migrant rescue ships operated by European charities.
Although the number of migrants attempting the perilous journey has fallen from 362,000 in 2016 to 116,000 in 2018, an average of six migrants die every day in the Mediterranean, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees reports.
Already this year, at least 426 people have died during the crossing, according to the French medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
The two groups' previous ship, Aquarius, discontinued its work in December following hostility from several European governments.
'Inhumane conditions' at Bosnian refugee camp in Vucjak
Within eyeshot of the Bosnian-Croatian border, thousands of refugees are camping in squalor on a former garbage site. Their supplies are scarce. Photographer Dirk Planert was among them.
Image: DW/D. Planert
Forced removals
It's estimated that 8,000 refugees live in Bihac. The camps are overcrowded and every day there is talk of burglaries. There was a stabbing in front of the kindergarten. Next to Camp Bira, there were about 500 people not registered with the International Organization for Migration (IOM). In mid-June police picked them up and drove them to a site called Vucjak.
Image: DW/D. Planert
800 people living on garbage
Within a few days, police continued to bring more refugees to Vucjak — a site that was the city's garbage dump for decades. It was covered with soil and then flattened. Local residents say it is omitting methane gas. Apart from the putrid stench, there are only three tents and some drinking water tanks. No toilets, no showers, no electricity, no paramedics.
Image: DW/D. Planert
Red Cross hopes for relief workers
Local Red Cross workers from Bihac say that neither the government in Sarajevo nor the IOM are giving them any funds to look after the refugees or buy medical supplies. The IOM staff stopped by briefly but did nothing. They then made a plea to the people of Bihac to donate food.
Image: DW/D. Planert
Eating in filth
Those at the camp receive paltry soup and bread twice a day from the Red Cross.
There is no electricity, no toilets, no showers, and no way to wash clothing. Almost everyone has skin rashes, open or purulent wounds, and their legs and feet are bloodied. There are no doctors. Red Cross medics say they have inadequate supplies to provide relief.
Image: DW/D. Planert
Medical emergency
Abdul Rahim Bilal screamed in pain as he was unloaded from a police van. Shortly afterward he became unresponsive and lay in the dirt with his hands on his appendix. The bus drove off. After desperate calls for help, another policeman called an ambulance which took half an hour to arrive. According to the hospital, he was released three days later.
Image: DW/D. Planert
Stories of war
Most in the camp are young men from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Syria; some are also from India, Egypt and Gaza. The refugees in Vucjak have been making their way to Europe for at least 10 weeks, some even up to three years. They speak of the war in Syria, terrorist attacks and police violence in Pakistan and air raids in Gaza.
Image: DW/D. Planert
No strength left
Jouma Al Hamid was in an Assad prison in Syria. He comes from the Idlib area. He's been on the road for three years and spent one year in Camp Moria on Lesbos. "I can't take it anymore," says the 26-year-old. "I just want to live in a house, that's all. I'm frightened, by the police, by criminal gang lords here." People smugglers charge €3,000 ($3,400) but he does not have it.
Image: DW/D. Planert
Without rights
Hassan Ali was forcibly removed from Camp Bira to Vucjak by police despite being registered as a migrant at IOM and having a place in the camp. They gave him no explanation: "The police arrested me in town. When I showed my IOM card and said I was in Bira, they said if I say that again they will beat me. Then they brought me here. I don't know why."
Image: DW/D. Planert
Being a child at the garbage dump
The youngest refugee at former-garbage dump campsite is 12 years old. He actually should be at Camp Bira, or in one of the hotels where women and children are accommodated but the police picked him up and brought him to Vucjak. His only possessions are the clothes he is wearing.
Image: DW/D. Planert
'This is not camp'
The people here are crying out to be heard. With a paper and a marker, a woman from a French human rights organization helped them write a legible sign, in a desperate attempt to get help.
Image: DW/D. Planert
The EU knows everything
The European Union can't deny that they know what the situation is like here. Two EUFOR soldiers were in Vucjak and witnessed everything. They will have reported to their headquarters. This situation is strongly reminiscent of the war in Bosnia. Bihac was a "UN protection zone," but only on paper. UN observers were here and they didn't do anything. Just like EUFOR.
