Twelve migrants drowned in two separate incidents off the Greek islands of Lesbos and Samos in the northeastern Aegean Sea on Monday, after their boats capsized as the coast guard chased them, authorities said, Arab News reports.
Five men and one woman died after a speedboat carrying migrants from Turkiye made a sudden maneuver and overturned roughly four nautical miles north of Samos, the Greek coast guard said.
Fourteen men survived and a search-and-rescue operation was under way. Authorities arrested one of the survivors, an Iranian national, on suspicion of migrant smuggling.
Earlier, four men, one woman and an infant died when their boat collided with a Greek coast guard vessel and overturned off the area of Agrilia in Lesbos. Eight survivors were taken to hospital.
Authorities arrested a 37-year-old Turkish national who was among the eight survivors and identified him as the suspected smuggler and operator of the boat.
The government vowed “zero tolerance” toward migrant smugglers, whom it blamed for the deaths.
On the incident off Lesbos, Greece’s shipping minister Vassilis Kikilias said evidence so far indicated the speedboat struck the left side of a coast guard vessel with its bow, adding that the exact circumstances were under investigation. “Our position is non-negotiable: zero tolerance for smugglers,” he said in a post on X.
Greece, for years a favored gateway to Europe for migrants and refugees from the Middle East, Africa and Asia, was at the front line of Europe’s migration crisis in 2015-2016 and nearly 1 million people landed on its islands, mainly from Turkiye. It has since toughened its stance and has been accused by human rights groups of forcibly returning migrants and asylum-seekers on its sea and land borders, a practice it denies, saying its coast guard acts with full respect for human lives and rights.
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13:23
An infant was among six people killed after a speedboat carrying migrants collided with a Greek coast guard patrol vessel off the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos on Monday, Greek authorities said, Xinhua reports.
The incident occurred in the early hours when the speedboat made dangerous maneuvers while attempting to evade a coast guard inspection, authorities said.
The bodies of four men, a woman and the infant were recovered after the boat capsized and sank, the coast guard said. Eight people, including four men, two women and two children, were rescued and taken to hospital for treatment.
The search and rescue operation was completed, with no other people reported missing, the coast guard said. The 37-year-old Turkish operator of the boat was arrested on suspicion of people smuggling.
Greek Minister of Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy Vassilis Kikilias expressed grief and anger over the deaths. He reiterated the government's zero-tolerance stance on smugglers, calling them criminals who risk the lives of desperate people for profit.
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