ATHENS: At least five migrants drowned after their wooden boat capsized off Greece’s southern island of Gavdos, the coastguard said on Saturday, and witnesses said many were still missing as search operations continued.
So far 39 men – most of them from Pakistan – have been
rescued by cargo vessels sailing in the area. They have been
transferred to the island of Crete, the coastguard said, adding
that the number of those missing had not yet been confirmed.
Coastguard boats, merchant vessels, an Italian frigate
and naval aircraft have been searching the area since Greek
authorities were alerted about the incident on Friday night.
At least two dead after migrant boat sinks off Greek island
In separate incidents on Saturday, a Malta-flagged cargo
vessel rescued 47 migrants from a boat sailing about 40 nautical
miles off Gavdos, while a tanker rescued another 88 migrants
some 28 nautical miles off the tiny island in Greece’s south.
According to initial information, coastguard officials
believe the boats left together from Libya.
Greece was a favoured gateway to the European Union for migrants and refugees from the Middle East, Africa and Asia in
2015-2016, when nearly 1 million people landed on its islands, mostly via inflatable dinghies.
Incidents with migrant boats and shipwrecks off Crete and
its tiny neighbour Gavdos, which are relatively isolated in the central Mediterranean, have increased over the past year.
In 2023, hundreds of migrants drowned when an overcrowded vessel capsized and sank in international waters off the southwestern Greek coastal town of Pylos. It was one of the deadliest boat disasters ever in the Mediterranean Sea.
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