Fears of a new migration route grow as more than 800 people land on Gavdos, population fewer than 70, in a few months

Even by the standards of small Greek islands, Gavdos is tiny. In a population of fewer than 70 people, there are just two families with four children. The rest “are all old people mostly living alone”, its mayor, Lilian Stefanaki, explains.

It is a micro-world that in the depths of winter is served by a single school, a bakery, two mini-markets and four kafeneia cum tavernas. The remote island – separated from the coast of Crete by frequently unpredictable waters in the Libyan Sea – is watched over by Efsevios Daskalakis, who for much of the year is its sole police officer.

But recently life on Gavdos has been a little less quiet than usual. “The weekend before last we had 150 people arrive from Libya in three very overcrowded boats,” says Stefanaki. “We’re being pushed to the limit because, firstly, there’s no infrastructure to house them on Gavdos.”

At Europe’s southernmost tip, closer to Africa than Athens, the 29-square kilometre island has emerged as the latest focal point for smugglers bent on bringing people to the west.