The bodies were discovered near Lesbos, island close to the Turkish coast after a pneumatic canoe carrying around forty people and pushed by strong winds blowing into the region has flowed.
Le Monde with AFP
At least fifteen people died in the sinking of a migrant boat off the island of Lesbos, Greece, announced, Thursday, October 6, the Greek Coasts.
Previously, the authorities had reported dozens of disappeared after the sinking of another boat which would have transported some 95 people, off the island of Citheère, close to the Peloponnese peninsula.
According to a coast guard press release, the fifteen bodies were discovered near Lesbos after a pneumatic canoe carrying around forty people sank. A strong wind had been measured in the area. Five people were also rescued and the operations to help three others were underway, the authorities said. 2> a longer and more perilous route
A few hours earlier, the coast guard had been alerted that a sailboat was in distress near the island of Citter. He sank near the port of Diakofti. Some of the survivors were able to join the Côte à la swimming, and a combined operation comprising ships at sea and the firefighters and land police services made it possible to find 80 people. No details have been provided with regard to the nationality of the shipwrecked. In the City region, the winds reached 102 km/h, indicated the coast guard.
Greece experienced this year an increase in migratory traffic, smugglers often taking the longest and most perilous road in the south of the country.
The makeshift boats start from Lebanon and no longer from Turkey to bypass the patrols in the Aegean Sea and try to join Italy.
Coast guard assured having rescued some 1,500 people in the first eight months of the year, against less than 600 in 2021. Greece systematically denies the repeated affirmations of human rights NGOs according to which many other people have illegally pushed back to Turkey.