Derelict Kos hotel a haven for migrants trapped in Greece

Mohammed Ibrahim fled fighting in Afghanistan for a better life in Germany but found himself trapped in a derelict hotel on the Greek island of Kos. He has little food and water, but still hopes to find a way to leave soon.

"All we do here is wait," the 18-year-old said at the abandoned Captain Elias hotel, a two-storey building with a crumbling exterior where hundreds of migrants fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East and Asia have found temporary refuge.

"Hope is all we have. Allah willing, we will reach Germany," he said.

The student said he has friends in Germany. But few if any of the migrants who are crossing to Kos from Turkey in inflatable dinghies want to stay in Greece, a country in economic crisis. 

Instead, they want somehow to get to the Greek mainland, and then head north to wealthier European Union nations in the hope of finding more help or jobs.  Kos, just 20 km (12 miles) from the Turkish coastal town of Bodrum, has been overwhelmed in recent weeks by migrants and refugees trying to enter the EU through its shores.

Nearly a quarter of a million migrants have crossed the Mediterranean to Europe this year, according to the International Organization for Migration. Nearly half have come to the Greek islands, the U.N. refugee agency estimates.

Local authorities are struggling to deal with the arrivals. A passenger ferry brought to Kos to house and register migrants is giving priority to Syrians, who are treated as refugees as they are fleeing civil war.

Those from other countries are often sleeping in places like the Captain Elias, which stands on the outskirts of the island's main town. There dozens of worn out mattresses are laid side by side in the lobby, where one man rests on the reception desk, covered in a bedsheet. Nearby, women dressed in headscarves watch over their toddlers as they sleep on the floor of ceramic tiles, trying to avoid broken glass strewn around. - Read More

Derelict Kos hotel a haven for migrants trapped in Greece

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