Greek port authorities are looking for around 50 migrants missing on Wednesday (August 10) after their wrecked boat sank in the southeastern Aegean Sea, Greece.

“According to the statements of 29 people rescued, there were 80 people on the boat, so up to 50 people are missing,” an official from the Coast Guard press office told AFP late in the morning.

The rescue operation was ordered at dawn by Merchant Marine Minister Yannis Plakiotakis after being informed of the sinking of this migrant boat off the islands of Karpathos and Rhodes, in the Aegean, according to a statement from the guards. ribs.

The boat had sailed from the Turkish city of Antalya, located on the neighboring Turkish coasts, with Italy as its destination, according to initial information from the coast guard.

No life jackets

Four boats that sailed in the area of ​​the sinking, two coastguard patrol boats and a helicopter from the Greek Air Force, are taking part in the search for the missing.

These are hampered by strong winds, said Skai radio Nikos Kokalas, spokesperson for the coast guard, stressing that "many shipwrecked people were not wearing life jackets". 

The perilous crossing of a few nautical miles between the Greek islands and the Turkish coasts in the Aegean Sea, located in the eastern Mediterranean, costs the lives of many migrants and refugees who try to cross to Europe on board makeshift boats to flee wars and misery.

Since January 2022, 64 people have died in the eastern Mediterranean, and 111 in 2021, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). 

The last shipwreck in the Aegean Sea took place on June 19.

Some eight people then perished off the island of Mykonos while 108 people were rescued by the Greek coast guard, according to the IOM.

The number of arrivals of migrants and refugees in Greece, mainly from Turkey, has increased this year, according to the Greek authorities. 

With AFP

The summary of the

France 24 week invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Take international news everywhere with you!

Download the France 24 app

google-play-badge_EN