16 refugees die in Greek boat tragedy
At least 16 people died when their boat overturned off the Greek island of Paros in the central Aegean Sea on Friday, in the third maritime disaster involving migrants this week, the country’s coastguard said.
Authorities scrambled a search and rescue operation northwest of Paros. Air and sea assets were deployed.
Greece is one of the main routes into the European Union for migrants and refugees from Africa, the Middle East and beyond, although the flow has tapered off since 2015-2016, when more than a million people traversed the country to other EU states.
Greece’s semi-official Athens News Agency said the bodies of 12 men, three women and a child were recovered. Eighty people were believed to have been on the vessel, which the coastguard said was headed for Italy from Turkey.
Details of the capsize were unclear. Greece’s shipping minister Giannis Plakiotakis said that trafficking gangs were responsible for the disasters.
The gangs “are indifferent to human life, stacking dozens of people, without lifejackets, in vessels which do not conform to the most basic of safety standards,” he said.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS
- |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证:沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证:31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证:0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证:沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证:沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.