Coast Guard Greek Survivors of the sinking of a newly loaded boat were engaged in a search on Saturday
Immigrants In the Aegean Sea, at least 30 people have been killed in repeated accidents this week.
Late on Friday, the Coast Guard recovered sixteen bodies, including 12 men, three women and a child, and was able to rescue 63 people when their boat with 80 people sank near the island of Burroughs. This latest tragedy brings to at least thirty the number of immigrants who died this week while trying to reach Europe, the third since Wednesday, and the rise in these incidents has worried Greek authorities.
Greece blames Turkey
“These days the crimes of hijackers who neglect human life are intensifying, carrying dozens of people on boats without life jackets and even meeting basic safety standards,” said Giannis Blakiotokis. Maritime Affairs, said late Friday. He accused neighboring Turkey of “making smugglers operate without punishment”.
Authorities said three Coast Guard patrol boats, private boats and a Coast Guard aircraft continued the search Saturday, with the help of divers.
Eleven bodies were recovered on Thursday
On Thursday evening, 11 bodies were recovered after a boat sank with 100 migrants stranded on the same day on an island in southern Greece. A Greek Coast Guard official told AFP on Friday that 90 survivors, including 11 women and 27 children, had been rescued and evacuated from the island, north of the Greek island of Antigua.
The sinking on Thursday occurred the day after an inflatable boat carrying migrants capsized on the island of Folechondros in southern Greece, killing at least three people. Thirteen people, mainly Iraqis, but Syrians and Egyptians, were rescued.
More than 2,500 have been killed
UNHCR, the agency for the United Nations RefugeesHe expressed regret over the accident. “This shipwreck is a painful reminder that people are making dangerous journeys in search of safety,” said Adriano Sylvestre, UNHCR’s deputy representative in Greece. On Friday, the Coast Guard intercepted another boat with 92 men and boys, which ran aground off the coast of the Beloponnese Peninsula. Three suspected hijackers who escaped from the boat were later arrested.
The Greek media point out that the accidents involving ships from Turkey occurred under good weather. According to UNHCR estimates, more than 2,500 people died or went missing at sea trying to reach Europe between January and November.
Nearly one million people, mostly Syrian refugees, arrived in the EU in 2015 after traveling from Turkey to nearby Greek islands. The situation in Afghanistan has raised fears about the arrival of a new wave of migrants. Athens accuses Ankara of turning a blind eye to people trying to cross into Greece in violation of the March 2016 agreement, which provided for a genuine Turkish attempt to curb migration from its territory in exchange for billions of euros in funding from the European Union. Denies the allegations.
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