How many more can Kos take? Thousands of boat people from Syria and Afghanistan set up migrant camp in popular Greek island - with holidaymakers branding the situation 'disgusting'

• e-mail

Thousands of boat people from Syria and Afghanistan have set up migrant camp in the popular Greek island of Kos - with holidaymakers branding the situation 'disgusting'.  

As families – often on cheap package deals and enjoying some summer sun with their kids during the half term break – relax on sun loungers on the beach, just a yards away scores of migrants have set up camp, sleeping on cardboard boxes with rubbish strewn everywhere.

Anne Servante, a nurse from Manchester, had come to Kos expecting a relaxing break with her husband Tony, a retired plumber.

Instead her summer break has turned into a nightmare as penniless migrants who are in Greece to claim asylum sit outside their restaurant and watch them eat.

Scroll down for video 

'Disgusting': British holidaymakers say their summer break has turned into a nightmare as migrants who are in Greece to claim asylum have turned Kos into a refugee camp

Strange mix: An Afghan immigrant sleeps on a bench outside the police station in Kos as two tourists cycle by. Straggly migrants straight from the boats have been marching through the town with backpacks on to join friends and register for their travel permits at the police station

Nowhere to go: Two young migrant mothers breastfeed their babies outside Kos police station. Holidaymakers have complained some migrants sit outside restaurants watching them eat

Eyesore: The harbourside has become an unofficial washing line, with clothes and grubby-looking scarves laid out along the shoreline

Clash: Groups of young migrant men have joined British and Dutch families queuing for ice-cream in the popular Greek island resort

'It’s awkward. I’m not going to sit in a restaurant with people watching you’: Anne and Tony Servante, from Manchester, say they won't be coming back next year

Out of place: A man in a suit and his smartly dressed companion walk past a family of migrants drying their clothes on the railing by the sea front at Kos

Contrast: Tourists on their summer holidays stroll past families of migrants sleeping out on the streets in Kos, with their belongings strewn on the pavement around them 

Adrift: A young migrant boy strolls by the sea in Kos. Around 30,000 incomers are scattered across the Dodeconse group of islands just a few miles from Turkey

Calling it 'disgusting', Anne fumed: ‘We have been coming here for almost ten years. We like to eat, drink and relax. But this time the atmosphere has changed. 

'It’s really dirty and messy here now. And it’s awkward. I’m not going to sit in a restaurant with people watching you.’

Another British couple on holiday with their grandchildren from Birmingham said: ‘We have never been before but we don’t like it.

‘We won’t be coming back if it’s like a refugee camp again next year.’

Migrants from war-torn Afghanistan and Syria have taken shelter under arcades on the seafront in Kos town as they wait to receive security clearance for onward travel to mainland Greece.

The wealthiest groups have smart phones and credit cards and are staying in local hotels for 10-15 euros a night - while the rest are camped out on the harbour side and at a derelict hotel on the edge of Kos town.

Straggly migrants straight from the boats march straight through the town with backpacks on to join friends and register for their travel permits at the police station.

Barefoot toddlers in filthy clothes play among debris while moustached men sit staring out to sea as they plan the next stage of their journey to Athens and the rest of Europe – including some heading for Britain.

Young Afghan mothers in head scarves, changing their babies and washing their children’s clothes in the sea, share the promenade with tourists who sit uncomfortably on the beachfront.

The harbourside has become an unofficial washing line with baby clothes and grubby-looking scarves laid out along the shoreline. Baby bottles and towels litter the area.

Groups of young men squatting together under the shade of the tree look on while British and Dutch families queue for ice-cream.

One group of Afghan girls sitting on the dismantled cardboard boxes that are their beds explain how they have run out of money after a week staying eight to a room in B&Bs.

‘I have only 100 euros left to get to Germany' explains Leyla Kasanzadeh, an 18-year-old tailor from Kabul who was traveling with her sister Samira, 23.

Recession-hit Greeks are donating what they can. One elderly man handed a breastfeeding mother in a headscarf 10 euros. ‘For the baby’, he said.

Local restaurants have erected a net barrier to block the sight of the makeshift camp, but workers complain that the tourists continue to stay away from this part of town because they don’t know where to look.

As many as 6,000 migrants have landed on the Dodecanese island in the past two months, with a total of 30,000 across the group of islands just a few miles from Turkey.

In the past two days 1,200 arrived on Kos, with fresh landings on the beach every night between 3am and 7am.

Tourists who have been coming to Kos for years complain that the ‘atmosphere has changed’.

Louis Laro, a headmaster from Breda, in Holland, said: ‘We are not happy to see this. It makes you realise what’s going on in this region and what’s coming to the rest of Europe in the next few months. They can’t stay in Greece. ‘

Caroline Ryderkerk, who runs a shop in Kos town, said: ‘It’s terrible for the people that have lost their homes but it’s also causing problems for people with shops and restaurants. 

'Some people stay away because they don’t know how to act. It’s normally much busier than this.’

For the Greeks, already mired in economic crisis, the migrants’ arrival adds to their woes, she claims.

‘This island is already in trouble. The people are kind- they give them blankets but they have very little for themselves. You cannot share what you don’t have.’

Most of the migrants crossed the narrow two mile channel from Bodrum in Turkey in rubber dinghies, in some cases accompanied by the Turkish and Greek coastguard, they said.

Joel Millman of the International Organisation for Migration said that the surge to the Greek islands was likely to be attributable to a crack down by the Turks on ‘ghost ships’ or cargo ships that were ferrying migrants to Italy at the end of last year.

Sani Saleh, an IT teacher from Damascus, said that the boats to Italy were no longer running, ‘but there are thousands of boats to Kos’. ‘It’s very easy to find one’.

Like many he plans to cross Europe on the overland route via Bulgaria and Serbia, then into Hungary and the EU. ‘I want to go to the UK because I know many people there. I speak English. I had an English girlfriend from Birmingham from 1991-94. She was the love of my life. ‘

Ihab Hilal, an optician from Aleppo who fled a call-up to Assad’s army, said that all the children in boat had started crying when the engine stopped in the middle of the journey.

The 29-year-old who said he was hounded by ISIS after carrying out first aid on rebels said: ‘I was carrying a little girl. Then the engine stopped. It was silent, then she started crying and then everyone started crying. After 15 minutes it started again. But it stopped five more times. ‘

Jihad Naif, a dentist who said he hoped to make it to the UK, said he had fled the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa after his cousin was beheaded by the militant Islamists.

He said: ‘There are so many rules now. It has become a very dark city. You can’t wear jeans, you can’t smoke, you can’t listen to music.

‘My uncle’s son had his head cut off because they said he was working for the Syrian Free Army’.

‘There are many Europeans among them. I met one who was a communications manager in Lyon before, another Swedish. They come to us and we go to Europe.’

• The original headline and opening paragraph to this article made reference to Kos as a “hellhole”. Both have now been amended to reflect the text of the article more specifically. 

Shut out: Dozens of migrants have camped outside the police station in Kos. Once they have their papers, the migrants from Syria and Afghanistan will move across Europe

Desolate: Afghan migrants stand in front of a deserted hotel, where hundreds of have found temporary shelter on the outskirts of Kos. Some richer migrants came off dhinghies with credit cards and mobile phones and are staying in cheap hotels

Pensive: A middle-aged migrant gazes out to sea in Kos. Recession-hit Greeks have been donating what they can to those stuck on the island, but the migrants are planning on moving on once they get their papers

Stuck: A tourist couple walk past a migrant on a bench. In the past two days 1,200 arrived on Kos, with fresh landings on the beach every night between 3am and 7am

Difficult future: A young migrant boy eats some bread on a battered scooter. Tourists who have been coming to Kos for years complain that the ‘atmosphere has changed’

Struggling to survive: Two men rest on the floor while having a meal of beans and bread. As many as 6,000 migrants have landed on the Dodecanese island of Kos in the past two months

Making do: Families of migrants have been sleeping on bits of cardboard amidst all their belongings outside the police station in Kos

Searching for hope: A migrant mother and her young child. Young Afghan mothers in head scarves, changing their babies and washing their children’s clothes in the sea, have been sharing the beachfront promenade with tourists

Passport to a better life: A young Syrian woman shows a collection of passports carried by the migrants

Packed: A courtyard at the Kos police station, meant to host only 35 people, had 236 migrants sleeping there one night this week

Plea: Hundreds of migrants descended on the police station. Caroline Ryderkerk, who runs a shop in Kos town, said: ‘It’s terrible for the people that have lost their homes but it’s also causing problems for people with shops and restaurants'

Squatting: Immigrants have been taking refuge in an abandoned hotel on the outskirts of Kos town after travelling across the Aegean Sea

Temporary shelter: A Congolese immigrant sleeps on a makeshift bed in the deserted Hotel Captain Elias in Kos. It has become a refuge for migrants who cannot afford to stay in B&Bs

Fit to burst: A dinghy full of migrants arrives on the shore in Kos, Greece, where holidaymakers were enjoying the half term break

Landing: An Afghan migrant carries two young children off the boat after arriving on the Greek island of Kos

End of the journey: A Syrian refugee carries a toddler off a dinghy on the island of Kos after crossing part of the Aegean Sea

Migrant train: Hundreds of newly-arrived mainly Syrian and Afghan natives walk towards a temporary shelter soon after making the crossing to Kos

Paradise lost: Kardemena on the island of Kos. The Greek resort is extremely popular with British holidaymakers, who flock there every year. It is particularly popular this week as children in Britain are on the half term break

Migrant route: Most of the migrants have been crossing the narrow two mile channel from Bodrum in Turkey in rubber dinghies

HOW A GREEK ISLAND BECAME A PARTY PARADISE FOR BRITISH TEENS

The sight of hundreds of migrants walking slowly to a temporary shelter after a treacherous journey across the Aegean Sea is a far cry from the image most have of the Greek island of Kos.

Over the last two decades it has gained a reputation as a getaway paradise for school leavers looking for sunny beaches and a party lifestyle.

Young British holiday-makers started flocking to the sun-kissed island, liberated from the strictures of life at home and on a high after their exams.

Holiday island: Many are still drawn to the island for its party atmosphere, sandy beaches, bars and restaurants

With many on their first holidays without parents, it came to be known as a destination where teenagers could throw caution to the wind - often with little care for the consequences.

Many still take up on cheap flights and package deals to the Greek island for 18-30 style clubbing holidays in resorts like Kardamena.

Tourism is still the primary industry on the island and over the last few decades, all-inclusive hotels consisting of thousands of beds have sprung up around the coastline.

But many are still drawn to the island for its lush interior, ancient ruins and white-washed houses.