Search under way after boat carrying dozens of migrants capsizes off Greek coast | World News
A major search and rescue operation is underway after a boat carrying dozens of migrants capsized and sank off the coast of Greece.
They have been traveling since Turkey when their ship capsized in inclement weather overnight between the islands of Evia and Andros.
The coast guard said on Tuesday that nine men had been found on an uninhabited rocky island in the Kafirea Strait between the two islands, east of Athens.
The survivors were picked up by a coast guard patrol boat, telling authorities that there were about 68 people on board the sailing boat when it crashed, and that they had departed from Izmir on the Turkish coast Turkey.
The coast guard said strong winds hampered rescue efforts. The stretch of water where the boat sank was notoriously dangerous, with even gentle winds that churned the sea.
Footage of the rescue operation posted on YouTube by the Hellenic Coast Guard shows a small group of people standing on the rocks below the cliff waving for help and other images showing waves crashing against the ship. patrol during search and rescue at night.
One of the photos shows survivors wrapped in emergency blankets sitting on the deck of a patrol boat.
Authorities were informed by an emergency call in the early hours of Tuesday from passengers saying the boat was in trouble, but they did not give the location.
The weather in the area was particularly severe, with strong gusts of wind. The Coast Guard said a helicopter, patrol boat and two nearby ships were involved in the search and rescue operation.
A separate operation has taken place since Monday off the east coast of the Aegean island of Samos for eight people reported missing after an inflatable dinghy carrying immigrant overturned.
Four survivors were rescued on Monday. A coast guard plane and patrol boat, two nearby ships and a ship of the European border patrol agency Frontex were involved in the search.
Thousands of people fleeing Africa, Asia and the Middle East try to enter the European Union through Greek each year.
Most make the short, often dangerous trip from the Turkish coast to the nearby Greek islands in inflatable canoes.
Others tried to cross Greece in overcrowded sailboats and yachts headed straight for Italy.
Earlier this month, at least 27 people drowned in two separate incidents. In one, 18 people died when a boat sailing from Turkey sank off the island of Lesboswhile on the other, a yacht carrying about 100 people sank in a high wind, leaving at least 9 people dead and 6 missing.