President Nikos Christodoulides on Wednesday urged the Lebanese government to take its own measures to control the flow of migrants leaving for Cyprus from the shores of Lebanon.

His comments came on the back of an incident that took place on the same day, when 60 migrants were rescued after they were spotted cramped in a wooden boat at 4:30am, some 30 nautical miles off Cyprus’ shores.

Authorities found three children and one man were unconscious, while another three individuals had fractures in their lower limbs.

Later in the day, Christodoulides said that similar issues concern both the Republic and the European Union, as well as neighbouring countries.

Speaking to the at the ceremony for the National Sports Awards organized by the Cyprus Olympic committee (Kow), the President said that “very specific measures [to tackle the arrival of migrants by sea] have been taken over the past 11 months, resulting in a tangible impact.

“It’s not just statements, the number of migrants coming to Cyprus has decreased,” he said, adding that those leaving Cyprus are significantly more than those arriving.

He highlighted an increase of over 60 per cent in the number of returns since 2022, acknowledging, however, the ongoing humanitarian crisis.

Christodoulides then thanked the authorities “for their swift response to Wednesday’s events.”

“When lives are at risk, there are no other options, and they acted very correctly,” he said.

Earlier, Health Minister Michael Damianos told reporters that three children rescued on Wednesday were in critical condition at Makarios hospital and doctors were by their side vigilantly.

In total six children and four adults were taken to hospitals.

On a different tone were Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou’s remarks on the incident. He said that the arrival of 60 Syrian migrants “some of whom were in bad shape and were transferred to hospital for care” proved the government’s point “over everything we’ve been repeatedly saying”.

“Human lives are at danger in inappropriate boats, usually victims of smugglers.”

Ioannou said it was for this exact reason that the government called on the EU to take action with a team from Europol, Lebanon’s authorities and Cyprus’ migration police, to monitor Lebanon’s borders.

He also sought to reiterate his mission for the EU to re-evaluate and designate Syria as a safe country.

Police said a 47-year-old man believed to be the smuggler was arrested.