More than 55k third country nationals being hosted in temporary shelters managed by Greek armed forces

More 55,000 third country nationals - would-be asylum seekers and irregular migrants from dozens of countries - are now being hosted in shelters operated by Greece armed forces, according to an announcement on Friday by the general staff.

The figure is higher by nearly 3,000 people from last Thursday, with most of the shelters on a handful of eastern Aegean islands that have been the first destination of third country nationals smuggled onto or rescued in mid-sea after setting off from the opposite Turkish coast.