The Latest: Cyprus police track migrants from adrift boat


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ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The Latest on Europe's response to mass migration (all times local):

9 p.m.

Police in Cyprus police say 24 Syrian migrants were located on a rocky outcrop along the Mediterranean island nation's southeastern coast after two patrol boats found an empty speedboat.

Police said the speedboat was adrift about 300 meters from the coastline when the patrol boats found it on Friday. The boat's captain was among the group later tracked down near the island's Cape Greco area.

The police think the migrants got off the boat before abandoning it and setting it adrift.

Police said two children and an infant, as well as a couple accompanying them, were taken to a hospital.

Cyprus' Civil Defense and Welfare Department is providing care for the group.

Cyprus is about 100 miles (160 kilometers) from the Syrian coast.

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6:25 p.m.

The United Nations refugee agency is pressing Greece to improve conditions at the crowded island camps where thousands of migrants are held as part of a European Union deal with Turkey.

The U.N. agency said Friday that conditions in the camps, where nearly 20,000 people live, are "squalid, inadequate and rapidly deteriorating."

UNHCR also urged the Greek government to move more migrants from the eastern Aegean Sea islands to mainland Greece.

Tens of thousands of migrants illegally enter Greece every year from Turkey, hoping to move on to more prosperous European countries.

Under the EU-Turkey deal reached in 2016, they are supposed to be kept on the islands and returned eventually to Turkey.

But in practice, most apply for asylum in Greece.

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