At Least 16 Dead As Migrant Boat Sinks Off Greek Island
Sixteen people, including at least five children, drowned on Saturday when the small boat they on capsized in the Aegean Sea, Greek coast guard officials said.
Sixteen people, including at least five children, drowned on Saturday when the small boat they on capsized in the Aegean Sea, Greek coast guard officials said.
The incident occurred off Greece’s Agathonisi island, which is close to the Turkish coast. The nationality of the victims was not immediately known.
Saturday’s incident was thought to be the highest death toll of migrants trying to reach outlying Greek islands for months.
Following a 2016 agreement between the European Union and Turkey, the numbers have diminished.
Under that deal, anyone who arrives on Greek islands must be returned to Turkey unless they qualify for asylum. But procedures can take several months, leading to overcrowded conditions on the islands.
Two more migrants were killed and seven more were injured on Saturday, in a separate incident in northern Greece, when their driver lost control of a vehicle during a car chase with the police, a police official told Reuters.