--- description: A night aboard a Greek coast guard vessel which rescues up to ten boats on a patrol title: Watch a Greek Night Patrol at the Frontlines of the Migrant Crisis image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1978f506b87cf629/698862a2f887dc279be923e9/yuri-kozyrev-greek-coast-guard-migrants-13.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Watch a Greek Night Patrol on the Frontlines of the Migrant Crisis by [Simon Shuster](/author/simon-shuster/) and [Diane Tsai](/author/diane-tsai/) Sep 11, 2015 10:44 PM CUT  A boat full of migrants is illuminated by the flash lights of Greek coast guards who have come to rescue them from the waters near the Greek-Turkish border. Sept. 7, 2015. A boat full of migrants is illuminated by the flash lights of Greek coast guards who have come to rescue them from the waters near the Greek-Turkish border. Sept. 7, 2015.Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME by [Simon Shuster](/author/simon-shuster/) and [Diane Tsai](/author/diane-tsai/) Sep 11, 2015 10:44 PM CUT One night in early September, TIME went on a night patrol aboard the Commander _Kazakos_, a Greek coast-guard vessel. Over the past year, the 10-man crew of the _Commander Kazakos_ has patrolled the front lines of the largest mass migration into Europe since World War II. “One night I looked at the radar and saw eight of their boats coming toward us in a line,” recalls Border Guard Dmitrious Argyropoulos. “I thought to myself, ‘This can’t be happening.’” More than a quarter-million migrants have reached the Greek islands by boat so far this year on their way to claim asylum in Western Europe, and nearly 3,000 have died in the attempt, according to the Greek government. Click [here](http://time.com/refugees/ "undefined") for more coverage of the refugee crisis in Europe. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4031284/europe-migrant-crisis-greece-boat-refugee/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4031284/europe-migrant-crisis-greece-boat-refugee/"},"headline":"Watch a Greek Night Patrol on the Frontlines of the Migrant Crisis","datePublished":"2015-09-11T22:44:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-30T11:52:03.779Z","description":"A night aboard a Greek coast guard vessel which rescues up to ten boats on a patrol","url":"https://time.com/4031284/europe-migrant-crisis-greece-boat-refugee/","keywords":["Syria","Refugees","Greece","Syrian Civil War","migrant crisis"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1978f506b87cf629/698862a2f887dc279be923e9/yuri-kozyrev-greek-coast-guard-migrants-13.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Simon Shuster","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/simon-shuster/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Diane Tsai","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/diane-tsai/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1978f506b87cf629/698862a2f887dc279be923e9/yuri-kozyrev-greek-coast-guard-migrants-13.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"yuri-kozyrev-greek-coast-guard-migrants-13","caption":"yuri-kozyrev-greek-coast-guard-migrants-13","creditText":"Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4031284/europe-migrant-crisis-greece-boat-refugee/","name":"Watch a Greek Night Patrol on the Frontlines of the Migrant Crisis"}}]}] ```