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Migrant numbers increase sixfold in cash-strapped Greece - U.N.

by Reuters
Friday, 5 June 2015 09:37 GMT

Afghan immigrants land at a beach on the Greek island of Kos, after crossing on a dingy a part of the south-eastern Aegean Sea between Turkey and Greece, early May 27, 2015. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

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GENEVA, June 5 (Reuters) - The number of migrants arriving on Greece's islands has increased sixfold since last year, piling more pressure on the cash-strapped government's services, the United Nations said on Friday.

More than 42,000 people, most of them refugees, arrived in the first five months of the year, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said, part of a growing influx risking the crossing from north Africa to Europe.

"The figures have increased dramatically, particularly in Greece where we have seen people arriving at an average of 600 a day ... We expect it to continue at least at this pace if not become even bigger," UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told journalists in Geneva.

"Greece does not have the additional resources to handle this humanitarian crisis," she added. (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

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