Four children, two men and one woman drowned and 38 refugees and migrants were missing after their wooden boat sank north of the Greek island of Lesbos, the coast guard said yesterday, as an extensive search operation continued for a second day.
The coast guard rescued 242 people off Lesbos on Wednesday in what was thought to be the largest maritime disaster off Greece in terms of numbers involved since a massive refugee influx began this year. The search went on overnight.
Four coast guard vessels were deployed yesterday, assisted by fishing boats. Three helicopters were hovering above the sea.
GATEWAY
Lesbos, which lies less than 10km from the Turkish coast in the north Aegean Sea, has been a primary gateway for thousands of refugees and migrants entering the outermost border of the EU.
Another 123 people were rescued off the islands of Samos and Agathonisi, and in another incident off Lesbos.
In total, 15 people drowned on Wednesday, including 10 children, the coast guard said. A baby has been missing for more than 12 hours.
Doctors and volunteers on Lesbos made desperate efforts to help a baby breathe, TV footage showed. Some of the survivors were sheltered in a chapel, a witness said.
“We will really support Greece,” German Minister of Foreign Affairs Frank-Walter Steinmeier told a Greek newspaper before an official visit to Athens yesterday, the latest in a series of visits by EU officials to the crisis-hit country.
“It’s clear that Greece — which is trying to get back on its feet right now — is feeling this influx as a particular burden,” he said.
More than 500,000 refugees and migrants have entered Greece through its outlying islands since January, transiting on to central and northern Europe in what has become the biggest humanitarian crisis on the continent in two decades.
Inflows have increased as refugees try to beat the onset of winter, crossing the narrow sea passages between Turkey and Greece in small overcrowded boats.
EU leaders have agreed to boost cooperation and provide UN-aided housing for 100,000 people, half of them in Greece.
The EU is expected to cover costs for accommodation for 20,000 in leased apartments in addition to temporary camps for 30,000 people.
RELOCATION
Relocation of refugees and migrants from Greece to other EU states could take up to two months, Greek Migration Minister Ioannis Mouzalas said
He added that the risk of thousands of refugees being trapped in Greece from possible border closures was a remote case.
“That’s a tragic scenario ... but I consider the chances of that very small,” he said.
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