According to the Greek coastguard, an air and sea rescue effort was underway Wednesday after around 50 people went missing after a migrant boat sunk in the Aegean Sea. The ship went down between the islands of Karpathos and Rhodes early daybreak on Wednesday, after setting sail from Antalya, Turkey, on its way to Italy.
“There were 80 individuals aboard the boat, according to the testimony of 29 rescued victims, thus up to 50 people are missing,” a coastguard press office officer told AFP.
According to a coastguard statement, the rescue mission was authorized by merchant shipping minister Yannis Plakiotakis and involved four vessels already traveling in the southern Aegean, two coastguard patrol boats, and a Greek air force aircraft.
Strong gusts of up to 30 miles per hour, however, were impeding the effort, according to coastguard spokeswoman Nikos Kokalas on Skai radio.
“Many of those who were shipwrecked were not wearing life jackets,” claimed Kokolas.
Although the boat looks to be attempting to reach Italy, Greece is often the destination of migrants leaving Africa and the Middle East in search of a better life in the European Union.
Thousands of people go to Greece through Turkey, a tiny and risky sea passage that separates the old foes.
According to the International Organization for Migration, 64 migrants have died in the eastern Mediterranean since January.
According to the UN migration agency, eight individuals perished off the Greek island of Mykonos on June 19 while 108 others were rescued.
The Greek coastguard said on Sunday that 122 migrants were rescued near Rhodes after their vessel encountered difficulties after traveling from Turkey.
Athens claims that migrant arrivals have increased this year and accuses Ankara of not doing enough to prevent traffickers from transporting people over the border, sometimes in shoddy boats that make for perilous trips.
In exchange for financial assistance from the European Union, Turkey agreed in 2016 to reduce the number of migrants leaving its coasts.
The EU asked Ankara to stop “violent and unlawful expulsions” from its territory at the end of June.
Charity organizations and the media have accused Athens of unlawfully sending back migrants, something Greece’s conservative government has rejected.