Italy returns 63 illegal Syrian immigrants to Greece

The Italian authorities have returned 63 illegal Syrian immigrants to Greece who tried to enter the country, Italian ANSA news agency reported Tuesday.

The agency said “the immigrants arrived in the port city of Ancona on the Adriatic Sea, east of Italy on Monday hiding inside two shipped cars that were on board of the Greek Minoan Lines ferry for maritime transport carriers”.

The agency pointed out that the “Italian police in the port discovered their presence, when two of them tried to escape by jumping from the ship; causing minor injuries to themselves”.

The 63 immigrants were returned upon the same ship while the Italian Coastguard patrolled the surrounding waters to ensure that none of the migrants threw themselves into the sea, said the report.

The drivers of both cars were arrested by the Italian authorities but their identity was not disclosed.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres said in March that Syria tops the list of forcibly displaced people in the world, three years on since the outbreak of the violent war there.

He warned of the increasing number of refugees in the absence of any progress in the political solution to the crisis.