ATHENS, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Greece's Coast Guard rescued about 545 migrants from a fishing boat off Europe's southernmost island of Gavdos on Friday, one of the biggest groups to reach the country in recent months.
The migrants were found during a Greek search operation some 16 nautical miles (29.6 km) off Gavdos, a Coast Guard statement said. They are all well and are being taken to the port of Agia Galini on the nearby island of Crete, it added.
Greece was on the front line of a 2015-16 migration crisis when more than a million people from the Middle East and Africa landed on its shores before moving on to other European countries, mainly Germany.
Flows have ebbed since then, but both Crete and Gavdos - the two Mediterranean islands nearest to the African coast - have seen a steep rise in migrant boats, mainly from Libya, reaching their shores over the past year and deadly accidents remain common along that route.
Greece, Cyprus, Spain and Italy will be eligible for help in dealing with migratory pressures under a new EU mechanism when the bloc's pact on migration and asylum enters into force in mid-2026.
The centre-right government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said deportationof rejected asylum seekers will be a priority.
(Reporting by Renee Maltezou and Angeliki Koutantou; Writing by Angeliki Koutantou)
