Greece: at least 16 dead, around 30 missing in the sinking of migrant boats

Europe 1 with AFP 11:26 a.m., October 06, 2022

At least 16 people died and around 30 others missing in Greece in the sinking of two migrant boats, pushed by strong winds, the Greek coastguard announced on Thursday.

The bodies of 16 women apparently of African origin were recovered from the east of the island of Lesbos, neighboring the Turkish coast in the Aegean Sea, after their boat sank, said a spokesman for the coast guard, Nikos Kokkalas, on the public television channel ERT.

Nine other women were rescued but 15 other people are missing, he added, adding that around 40 people were on board the boat at the time of the tragedy.

"The women were completely freaked out," he described.

A few hours earlier, the authorities had reported missing after the sinking of another boat, a sailboat carrying some 95 people, this time off the island of Cithere, near the Peloponnese peninsula.

swimming

Some of the survivors were able to swim to shore, and a combined operation involving ships at sea and fire and police services ashore resulted in the recovery of 80 people.

The sailboat sank near the port of Diakofti.

It was "completely destroyed", according to Nikos Kokkolas.

No details were provided as to the nationality of the castaways.

In the Cithere region, winds reached 102 km / h, the coast guard said.

Greece has seen an increase in migrant traffic this year, with smugglers often taking the longest and most perilous route in the south of the country.

The makeshift boats leave from Lebanon, and no longer from Turkey, to circumvent the patrols in the Aegean Sea and try to reach Italy.

The coast guard said it rescued some 1,500 people in the first eight months of the year, compared to less than 600 in 2021.

The perilous crossing of a few nautical miles between the Greek islands, gateway to the European Union, and the Turkish coasts in the Aegean Sea, located in the eastern Mediterranean, is costing the lives of many migrants and refugees who attempt the crossing on board makeshift boats to flee wars and misery.

Since January 2022, 64 people have died trying to cross into Europe from nearby Turkish shores, compared to 111 for the whole of 2021, according to data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Last December, at least 30 people died in three separate shipwrecks of migrant boats in the Aegean Sea.

But precise data is difficult to establish because some bodies are never recovered or are found on the shore weeks later.

charges

Athens accuses Ankara of turning a blind eye to the practices of smugglers and letting migrants come to Greece in violation of the March 2016 agreement which provided for an effort by Turkey to limit the departure of refugees and migrants from its territory.

Turkey denies these accusations.

For its part, Greece is singled out by NGOs and the media for its responsibilities in illegal and often violent pushbacks at its maritime and land borders.

The conservative Greek government has always denied these pushbacks to Turkey, which are contrary to international law, despite serious and documented investigations carried out by international media and NGOs.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Greece of turning the Aegean Sea into a "graveyard" with "its oppressive policies".

The Greek Minister for Migration, Notis Mitarachi, retorted that Turkey was pushing migrants “with violence” towards Greek territorial waters “in violation of international law”.