Multiple deaths as boat sinks in third migrant shipwreck in Greek waters of the week

Scores of people have been rescued and more than a dozen have died after a migrant boat sank off the coast of a Greek island, in the third such incident this week.

Policemen patrol alongside a steel wall at Evros river, near the village of Poros, at the Greek-Turkish border on 21 May 2021. Source: AP

At least 16 people have died and dozens rescued after a boat overturned and sank off the Greek island of Paros in the central Aegean Sea.

Authorities on Friday launched a search and rescue operation northwest of the island, in what was thought to be the third shipwreck this week involving migrants in Greek waters.

According to Athens News Agency, the coastguard found 16 bodies late on Friday, including those of three women and a baby, and rescued 63 people from a boat that overturned and sank near the island of Paros.

Hours earlier, authorities said they had recovered 11 bodies from the scene of another shipwreck when a boat 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 heading for Italy.

Greece is one of the main routes into the European Union for migrants and refugees from Africa, the Middle East and beyond, though the flow has tapered off since 2015-2016 when more than a million people traversed the country to other EU states.

Overnight between Tuesday and Wednesday, a boat thought to have been carrying up to 50 migrants sank off the island of Folegandros, killing at least three people.

Thirteen people were rescued, while dozens remain missing, Greek authorities said.

Survivors gave conflicting accounts, with some saying there had been 32 people on board, while others put the number at around 50, a coastguard official told AFP.

The UN refugee agency UNHCR said the Folegandros accident was the worst in the Aegean Sea this year.

2,500 dead or missing at sea

"This shipwreck is a painful reminder that people continue to embark on perilous voyages in search of safety," said Adriano Silvestri, the UNHCR's assistant representative in Greece.

Earlier Friday, the coastguard had intercepted another boat with 92 men and boys on board after it ran aground on the coast of the Peloponnese peninsula.

Three suspected smugglers who fled the boat on foot were later arrested.

The UNHCR estimates that more than 2,500 people have died or gone missing at sea in their attempt to reach Europe from January through November this year.

Nearly one million people, mainly Syrian refugees, arrived in the European Union in 2015 after crossing to Greek islands close to Turkey.