22 dead, dozens missing, after 2 migrant ships sink in Greek waters

Agencies | Athens     

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bodies floated amid splintered wreckage in the wind-tossed waters off a Greek island yesterday as the death toll from the separate sinkings of two migrant boats rose to 22, with many still missing.

The vessels went down hundreds of miles apart, in one case prompting a dramatic overnight rescue effort as island residents and firefighters pulled shipwrecked migrants to safety up steep cliffs.

The shipwrecks further stoked tension between neighbors Greece and Turkey, who are locked in a heated dispute over maritime boundaries and migration. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis voiced “deep sorrow for the tragic loss of life,” and praised rescuers’ “heroic” efforts.

“This is a time to really cooperate much more substantially in order to avoid these types of incidents occurring in the future and to completely eradicate the smugglers who prey upon innocent people” trying to reach Europe in unseaworthy boats, Mitsotakis added.

The coast guard on Greece’s eastern island of Lesbos said the bodies of 16 young African women, a man and a boy were recovered after a dinghy carrying about 40 people sank. Ten women were rescued, while 12 other migrants were believed to be missing, coast guard officials said. ‘

The last body to be recovered, of a man, was found by divers from the European Union’s Frontex border agency who helped in the search and rescue operation, the coast guard said.