London: In the second incident this week, a boat carrying migrants in the Aegean Sea has been shipwrecked. Three people have died and more than 12 are believed to be missing.
A shipwreck has left at least three people dead and at least a dozen missing off the coast of Greece, the country’s coast guard announced on Tuesday (February 7). Greek state broadcaster ERT reported that the migrants were from Syria, Yemen and Somalia.
The migrants had been traveling in a dinghy with around 41 people on board. It sank after hitting rocks near the island of Lesbos, a spokesperson for the coast guard told the news agency AFP.
The coast guard said 19 people had been rescued since the early hours of Tuesday. Rescue workers, assisted by two coast guard vessels and a Super Puma helicopter, were continuing the search on Tuesday but were being hampered by strong winds.
At least 10 of those rescued were taken to hospital, some suffering from hypothermia, according to Reuters.
More lives lost in the Aegean
This shipwreck is the second within a few days. On Sunday, four children and a woman lost their lives when their boat sank off the island of Leros, farther south.
Forty-one people were rescued, including six children and two adults who were taken to hospital.
The group had set out from the neighboring Turkish coast. According to the Greek news agency ANA, all the migrants were from Africa.
Just two months earlier, a two-month-old baby was found dead off the island of Lesbos after a shipwreck. The body of another child, aged nine months, was found on the island a few days later in a state of “advanced decomposition.” The child had reportedly died after falling into the water as the boat had been trying to dock in Lesbos.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Greece responded to the latest shipwreck on Twitter, saying rescue efforts were continuing amid strong winds. It referred to 16 rescued migrants, a figure later updated to 19 by the coast guard.
“This senseless loss of life has to stop,” it said.
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