Kos migrants board passenger ship

(Vatican Radio) The first of several thousand illegal migrants on the Greek island of Kos today began boarding a special passenger ship sent to provide shelter for them, after spending weeks living rough.

Listen to John Carr's report from Athens

 The ferry, with a capacity of something over 2,000 beds, had docked at Kos on Friday.  The delay in boarding was attributed to the need to count the migrants and register their names.  It’s still unclear when the ship will sail for Piraeus, or whether it will be used as temporary accommodation until the migrants find other means to travel.

An estimated 45,000 migrants have floated to Kos across the narrow strait from the Turkish coast this summer, overwhelming the island’s services and filling the roadsides and parks with makeshift tents.  Hoteliers on Kos have fretted that the flood of migrants would put off tourists, though so far there has been little evidence of this.

 Also today, workmen were busy preparing a camp in Athens’ industrial area to relocate hundreds of migrants who have been living rough in the city’s parks and squares for months.  But many migrants are reluctant to enter this new space, saying Greece isn’t their final destination. Instead, they prefer to crowd the northbound trains out of Greece and into central Europe.