Greece: Dozens Missing after Boat Carrying Migrants Sinks

Authorities said that dozens of migrants went missing after the overloaded sailboat they were on capsized and sank in rough seas off an island near Athens. The Greek coast guard searched for the migrants on Tuesday.

The event that occurred overnight was the most recent in a string of migrant boat shipwrecks that have claimed hundreds of lives or left people missing in Greek waters.

Ten survivors—all men—were saved and brought to the island of Evia, which is located off the coast of Athens. The first nine, who were found the following morning on an uninhabited islet south of Evia, informed officials that there were approximately 68 persons on the sailboat when it capsized.

The tenth survivor was rescued from the water by a cargo ship taking part in the search and rescue effort some hours later, on Tuesday afternoon, according to the coast guard.

The first survivors informed Greek officials that the boat had departed from the Turkish coast near Izmir. Their nationalities were not disclosed.

On Tuesday morning, when the rescue effort was taking underway, there were gale-force winds. Between the islands of Evia and Andros, near the Kafireas Strait where the boat capsized, severe seas are prevalent even in mild winds.

Images from the operation, which were made public by the coast guard, showed a small group of individuals calling for assistance while perched on rocks beneath a cliff and waves slamming over a patrol boat of the coast guard. The survivors were captured on camera by the coast guard sitting on the deck of the patrol boat while being covered in emergency foil blankets.

According to the coast guard, a boat in peril was first reported to authorities in a distress call early on Tuesday, but the callers did not give a location. The search and rescue operation included the use of an aeroplane, a patrol boat from the coast guard, and two adjacent ships.

The coast guard reported that on Tuesday, a cargo ship taking part in the operation discovered a body in Greek territorial seas. The body was hauled up by a Turkish coast guard vessel that wasn't involved in the rescue, according to the coast guard.

The Greek coast guard said that the Turkish vessel "displayed armament" while harassing and attempting to damage a Greek coast guard vessel during the retrieval.

Greece and Turkey, who are neighbours and NATO allies, have been at differences over a number of topics, including territorial disputes in the Aegean Sea, and tensions between them have been high.

Giannis Plakiotakis, the Greek shipping minister, criticised Turkey for "permitting merciless smuggling networks to bring people to their deaths, with Greece rescue as many as it can."

He claimed that the Turkish coast guard vessel had entered Greek territorial seas in a provocative manner, "perhaps wanting to spark an incident."

Greece "will continue to save lives, without being dragged into the games Turkey seeks in the Aegean," Plakiotakis said in a statement.

Turkish authorities had no quick public comments.

Every year, thousands of individuals try to join the European Union through Greece as they leave war and poverty in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

Most use inflatable dinghies to travel the short but frequently dangerous distance from the Turkish coast to the surrounding Greek islands. Others decide to attempt a circumnavigation of Greece in crowded sailboats and yachts bound towards Italy.

Last month, there were at least 27 drownings in two distinct events. In one, a boat that had left Turkey and sunk off the eastern Aegean island of Lesbos resulted in the deaths of 18 persons. In the second, a yacht with roughly 100 passengers on board capsized in a gale, claiming at least nine lives and leaving six people missing.

More than 900 migrants who had recently been saved by charity boats off the coast of Italy awaited Italian authorities' assignment of ports for passenger disembarkation on Tuesday.

As of now, the new far-right-led government in Italy is adhering to the former administrations' regulations and delaying approving the migrants' request to come ashore.

According to the newly appointed interior minister, he intends to crack down on boats thought to be supporting illegal immigration.

Separately, about 280 migrants arrived on the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa on Tuesday. Numerous more were relocated to more spacious facilities in Sicily or the Italian mainland from the island's notoriously overcrowded shelters for asylum seekers.