The Latest: Syrian comes to Greek border to rescue family

In this photo released by Greek Prime Minister's office on Saturday, April 16, 2016, Pope Francis, greets children at the port of Mytilene, on the Greek island of Lesbos. Pope Francis implored Europe on Saturday to respond to the migrant crisis on its shores "in a way that is worthy of our common humanity," during an emotional and provocative trip to Greece. (Andrea Bonetti/Greek Prime Minister's Office via AP) (The Associated Press)

prev next

Pope Francis meets migrants at the Moria camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, Saturday, April 16, 2016. Pope Francis’ Saturday visit to the Greek island of Lesbos, whose shores have seen the arrival of hundreds of thousands of people making their way toward Europe, might have been brief but it was highly emotional, with some of the refugees and migrants he met breaking down and weeping at his feet. (L'Osservatore Romano/Pool photo via AP) (The Associated Press)

In this photo released by Greek Prime Minister's office on Saturday, April 16, 2016, Pope Francis, left, is escorted by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, during a visit on the Greek island of Lesbos. Pope Francis implored Europe on Saturday to respond to the migrant crisis on its shores "in a way that is worthy of our common humanity," during an emotional and provocative trip to Greece. (Andrea Bonetti/Greek Prime Minister's Office via AP) (The Associated Press)

MADRID – The Latest on Europe's migration crisis (all times local):

6:10 p.m.

A Syrian refugee who has made it to Germany is back in Greece trying to get his family out of a makeshift refugee camp.

Bassel Al-Khalaf, 25, has been living in Germany for a year and a half. But for the last six days he has been staying in a tent at the refugee camp in the northern Greek border town of Idomeni, reunited at last with his wife, Hannaa Al-Ahmad, 24, and his 1-year-old daughter, Sahinas.

He says "I came to try and take them with me .... but I've been told reunions take a long time." Al-Khalaf plans to go to the German Embassy in Athens, having collected the necessary paperwork.

His wife and daughter had made it as far as Macedonia before a series of European nations shut their borders to migrants in March. Macedonian authorities pushed them back to Greece.

___

3:40 p.m.

Spain's maritime rescue service says it has deployed ships and aircraft in a search for a boat believed to be carrying 27 people in the southern Mediterranean Sea.

The service said a Spanish Navy ship joined in the search Saturday for the boat that is thought to be transporting migrants trying to reach Europe from Africa.

Rescuers on Friday picked up 76 migrants, including 22 who had disembarked from a boat onto a small Mediterranean island and 54 who had been aboard a small boat.

Thousands of migrants try to reach Spain each year either by attempting to enter the country's north African enclaves of Melilla and Ceuta or by making perilous sea crossings to the mainland.