October 6, 2022, 9:23 AM
October 6, 2022, 9:23 AM
At least 16 people, all of them women, have died and another 30 are missing. after the shipwreck of a migrant boat off the island of Lesbos, the Greek coastguard reported Thursday.
The bodies of 16 women, apparently of African origin, were discovered near the Greek island of Lesbos after a boat carrying around 40 people capsized due to strong winds blowing in the area, the coastguard said in a statement. Nine women were rescued, and operations are ongoing, authorities said Thursday.
A few hours earlier, the coastguard had been alerted that another ship was in distress near the island of Cythera. The ship sank near the port of Diakofti. Some of the survivors were able to swim to shore, and a combined operation involving ships at sea and fire and police services on land allowed the recovery of 80 people. Details of the nationality of the survivors were not provided. In the Cythera area, winds reached 102km/h, according to the coast guard.
According to RFI’s correspondent in Athens, Joël Bronner, two separate operations are underway, complicated by the wind. The Greek coastguards have published a video of the rescue of a person during the night, off Lesbos. It shows a rough sea, a lot of foam and the sound of the recording is saturated by the wind. On the coast of Cythera, local volunteers also participated in the rescue operation. The images, published again by the coastguard, show some 30 migrants trapped between the sea and a steep cliff after their boat ran aground.
This year, Greece has experienced an increase in migratory traffic, and traffickers often take the longest and most dangerous route to the south of the country. The makeshift boats leave Lebanon instead of Turkey to evade patrols in the Aegean Sea and try to reach Italy. The coastguard said they had rescued about 1,500 people in the first eight months of the year, compared with fewer than 600 in 2021.
Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi urged Turkey to “take immediate action to avoid irregular departures due to difficult weather conditions.” “People drown in boats in poor condition. The EU must act,” he tweeted.
Greece has consistently denied repeated claims by human rights NGOs that many people have been illegally expelled to Turkey.
