Europe

Home page

Europe

Greece reports third migrant shipwreck in days, survivors sought

25 December 2021 06:33 (UTC +04:00)

At least two people died and 57 rescued when their boat overturned off the Greek island of Paros in the central Aegean Sea on Friday, the country's coastguard said, APA reports citing Reuters.

Authorities scrambled a search and rescue operation north-west of the island of Paros, in what was thought to be the third shipwreck this week involving migrants in Greek waters.

Air and sea assets were deployed to the area, the coastguard said.

Greece's semi-official Athens News Agency reported that 80 people were believed to have been on the vessel, which it described as a sailboat. The circumstances under which it capsized were unclear, it said.

Earlier, Greek authorities said they had recovered 11 bodies from the scene of another shipwreck, when a sailboat carrying migrants sank off an uninhabited islet in southern Greece on Thursday.

Another 90 people were rescued in that operation. The coastguard said initial information suggested the migrants had been headed for Italy.