Greek and Turkish coastguards nonetheless trying to find two lacking individuals from the 2 unrelated accidents.
Two boats carrying refugees sank within the slender stretch of sea between Turkiye and the Greek island of Lesbos, leaving a minimum of 16 individuals useless, in keeping with officers from each international locations.
The accidents on the boats, which collectively carried about 66 individuals, occurred a number of hours aside on Thursday, with authorities on both aspect unaware of the opposite nation’s rescue efforts.
On the Greek aspect, the nation’s coastguard mentioned that one among its patrol boats got here throughout a small dinghy of about 5 metres (5.5 yards) in size that was taking up water, and rescued 23 individuals – 11 minors, eight males and 4 girls – out of a reported complete of 31 passengers.
Authorities later recovered the our bodies of seven individuals – three girls, two boys, one lady and one man – after a search and rescue operation that included helicopters, vessels from the coastguard, and the FRONTEX European border company.
The Greek coastguard mentioned rescuers had been nonetheless looking on Thursday night for a younger lady who had been reported as lacking by survivors.
One of many survivors, recognized solely as a 20-year-old man, was arrested on suspicion of being a individuals smuggler after different passengers allegedly recognized him as having piloted the dinghy, the coastguard mentioned.
Individually in Turkiye, authorities from the northwestern province of Canakkale mentioned the coastguard obtained an emergency name for assist from a ship early Thursday morning, rescuing 25 individuals after deploying three boats and a helicopter.
The assertion mentioned that 9 our bodies had been recovered and the seek for one lacking particular person continued. Turkish media mentioned the survivors had been taken to a hospital in Turkiye.
Shipwrecks are quite common on the brief however perilous route between the Turkish coast and the close by Greek islands of Samos, Rhodes and Lesbos that function entry factors to the European Union for individuals fleeing battle and poverty.
The Greek authorities has cracked down with elevated patrols at sea, and plenty of smuggling rings have shifted their operations south, utilizing bigger boats to move individuals from the northern coast of Africa to southern Greece.
Final yr, greater than 54,000 individuals used what has turn out to be generally known as the japanese Mediterranean route heading to Greece, and greater than 7,700 crossed Greece’s small land border with Turkiye, in keeping with figures from the United Nations.
A complete of 125 individuals had been reported useless or lacking.
