At least five migrants drowned after a wooden boat capsized off the southern Greek island of Gavdos, the coastguard said on Saturday, and witnesses said more were still missing as the search continued.
So far 39 men – most of them from Pakistan – have been rescued by cargo ships sailing in the area. They have been evacuated to the island of Crete, the coast guard said, adding that the number of missing has yet to be confirmed.
Coastguard boats, merchant ships, an Italian frigate and naval aircraft are searching the area after Greek authorities were alerted to the incident on Friday night. In separate incidents on Saturday, a Malta-flagged cargo ship rescued 47 migrants from a boat 40 nautical miles off Gavdos, while a tanker rescued another 88 migrants 28 nautical miles off the small island south of Greece.
Coast Guard officials believe the boats left together from Libya, according to preliminary information.
Greece was the European Union’s preferred gateway for migrants and refugees from the Middle East, Africa and Asia in 2015-2016, when nearly 1 million people landed on its islands, mostly via inflatable dinghies.
Migrant boat and shipwrecks in Crete and its tiny neighbor Gavdos, relatively isolated in the central Mediterranean, have increased in the past year.
In 2023, hundreds of migrants drowned when an overcrowded ship capsized and sank in international waters off the coastal city of Pylos in southwestern Greece. It was the deadliest boat accident ever in the Mediterranean Sea.
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