Athens: At least sixteen people died when a migrant boat sank in the Aegean, the Greek coast guard said early on Saturday, just hours after a similar incident claimed 11 other lives.
The latest tragedy – the third since Wednesday – came in the midst of high smugglers that was not seen in Greek waters in a few months.
According to the Athens news agency, the coast guard found 16 bodies on Friday, including from three women and babies, and saved 63 people from the ship which was upside down and drowned near Paros Island.
A few hours earlier, 11 bodies recovered from the boat that scattered the island north of the Antikythera Greece Island on Thursday night.
Ninety people stranded on the island were saved, said the division.
On Wednesday, a Dinghy brought upside down migrants from the island of Folegandros, killing at least three people.
Thirteen people were saved, while dozens remained lost, the Greek authority said.
UN refugee agency UNHCR said Folegandros accident was the worst in the Aegean Sea this year.
“This shipwreck is a painful reminder that people continue to start a dangerous journey to seek safety,” said Adriano Silvestri, an assistant representative of UNHCR in Greece.
Earlier Friday, the coast guard had intercepted another boat with 92 men and boys on board after it ran aground at the Peloponnese Peninsula Beach.
Three suspected smugglers who escaped from the ship on foot were then arrested.
UNHCR estimates that more than 2,500 people have died or lost in the sea in their efforts to reach Europe from January to November this year.
Nearly one million people, especially the Syrian refugees, arrived in the European Union in 2015 after crossing to the Greek Islands close to Turkey.
“These days, criminal activities of smugglers, indifferent to human life, have intensified, accumulates dozens of depressed people, without life jackets, on boats that do not even meet basic safety standards,” Giannis Plakiotakis, Minister of Maritime Comment on Friday night.
The toll of death rose to 16 in the latest Greek migrant boat accident
