On the morning of December 19, a ship carrying some 200 illegal migrants was found floating adrift, 117 nautical miles southwest of the Greek town of Pylos in the Peloponnese, after the Italian coast guard alerted the Unified Search and Rescue Coordination Center (ESKED) of the Greek Ministry of Mercantile Marine. Five rescue boats rushed to the area but the illegal migrants refused to board the boats in order to be transferred to Greece. After negotiations, the vessel was towed by a cargo ship that was heading to Sicily, Italy. According to data released by the Hellenic Coast Guard, authorities faced 193 cases of migrants who were illegally trying to enter or leave the country in November 2014, they arrested 3,447 foreigners and 57 traffickers, and seized 23 boats and 16 vehicles.
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