Captain arrested after Syrian migrants arrive in boat

The 37-year-old captain of a boat with 38 migrants on board that was towed into the Kato Pyrgos harbour by a police vessel around 1am on Tuesday after it was located in the sea nearby was arrested later in the day and is being investigated for people smuggling.

The boat was first spotted heading towards Pyrgos at 8.50pm. By midnight, the boat was two nautical miles north of Kato Pyrgos.

It was carrying 33 men, one woman, and four children from Syria.

They were taken by buses to Polis Chrysochous where their details were recorded.

On Tuesday morning, authorities moved the migrants to the Kokkinotrimithia reception centre near Nicosia

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.