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A Greek coast guard vessel is docked at the port in the town of Kalamata, about 240 kilometers southwest of Athens, on June 15, 2023. [Thanassis Stavrakis,/AP]
Rescuers searched the Mediterranean near Greece’s southernmost island on Thursday for two people reported missing when a boat carrying 100 migrants sank the previous day, the Greek Coast Guard said .
One man’s body was recovered from the sea on Wednesday, and 97 people were rescued by a passing Turkish-flagged cargo ship. The Coast Guard said on Thursday that the survivors – 85 men, two women and 10 young people – were taken to the island of Crete, where one woman was hospitalized.
Greek authorities said they arrested two of the survivors, men aged 26 and 24, as suspected smugglers. According to the Coast Guard, the survivors said they left for Greece from Tobruk in Libya last Sunday, and that they paid between 7,000 and 10,000 euros each. The reasons why the boat sank were not immediately clear.
Earlier this week, two women and two children died off the island of Kos in eastern Greece when a smuggling boat from nearby Turkey capsized. Another 27 people were rescued.
Greece lies on a popular route into the European Union for people fleeing war and poverty in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, with tens of thousands heading to Greek islands , usually in smuggling boats from the nearby Turkish coast, or doing further and more. a perilous journey across the Mediterranean Sea from northern Africa.
More than 42,000 migrants were registered as arriving in Greece in early October, with the majority arriving by sea, according to figures from the United Nations refugee agency.
As the search and rescue operation continued off southern Greece, European Union leaders met in Brussels to discuss migration, seeking ways to make the bloc a more hostile destination for migrants and refugees. will seek asylum after a recent surge in support for the far-right, which has opposed foreigners.
[AP]
