22 PEOPLE, INCLUDING 5 CHILDREN, WERE CONFIRMED DEATH IN MIGRANT BOAT SINKING IN GREECE

  • 03/11/2022

At least five children are among the 22 people who have been confirmed dead in the sinking of a sailboat carrying migrants, according to the Greek coast guard on Thursday. A search and rescue effort is still ongoing for the 34 people who are still listed as missing.

Since the sailboat capsized in the perilous waters between the islands of Evia and Andros, east of the Greek capital, early on Tuesday, only 12 people—all men—have been found alive. The first nine survivors, who were discovered on rocks on an uninhabited islet, told authorities they had been on a sailboat with a crew of about 68 when it sailed off the Turkish coast from Izmir. 

They claimed that the boat overturned in rough seas and sank. In the notoriously rough Kafireas Strait between the two islands, the initial rescue operation was carried out in gale-force winds and seas. The coast guard reported on Thursday that a total of 22 bodies, including six women and five children (three boys and two girls) had been pulled from the water.

The latest in a string of recent fatal shipwrecks in Greek waters involved boats carrying migrants.

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