CYPRUS and the United Nations agency for refugees clashed on Thursday over allegations that the east Mediterranean island nation continues to engage in “push backs” against boats loaded with migrants.

The clash came a few days after Cypriot authorities recovered two survivors and seven bodies in international waters off Cyprus after their boat sank in rough seas.

UN High Commission for Refugees spokeswoman Emilia Strovolidou accused Cypriot police of intercepting three boatloads of migrants inside Cypriot territorial waters on between March 13-14 but prevented them from disembarking at Larnaca port, making them turn back to Syria from where they departed.

Cypriot Justice Minister Marios Hartsiotis disputed Ms Strovolidou’s claims, saying Cypriot patrol vessels intercepted two — not three — boats near Lebanon’s territorial waters within Cyprus’s search and rescue area of responsibility.

He said that Cypriot authorities requested Lebanon’s assistance — in line with a bilateral agreement — to turn the boats back to the Lebanese coast from where they set sail.

Mr Hartsiotis insisted that Cyprus does not engage in push backs and abides by its international legal obligations, saying that a “serious organisation” such as the UNHCR “must substantiate its claims.”

But in a statement, the agency insisted that the “individuals on board were denied access to Cyprus and are now back in Syria from where they had fled.”