Global Courant
ATHENS, Greece – At least 32 people have died off the coast of southern Greece after a fishing boat carrying dozens of migrants capsized and sank, authorities said on Wednesday.
A major search and rescue operation was launched in the area. Authorities said 104 people have so far been rescued after the overnight incident, some 74 kilometers southwest of Greece’s southern Peloponnese.
Four of the survivors were hospitalized with symptoms of hypothermia. It was unclear how many passengers would remain missing at sea after the 32 bodies were recovered, the Greek coastguard said.
Six Coast Guard vessels, a Navy frigate, a military transport aircraft, an Air Force helicopter, several private vessels and a drone belonging to the European Union’s border control agency, Frontex, took part in the ongoing search.
Survivors of a shipwreck are sitting in a warehouse in the Greek port city of Kalamata on Wednesday.AP
The boat bound for Italy is said to have departed from the Tobruk area in eastern Libya. The Italian coastguard first warned the Greek authorities and Frontex about the approaching ship on Tuesday.
Smugglers are increasingly taking larger boats into international waters off the Greek mainland to evade local coast guard patrols.
On Sunday, 90 migrants on a US-flagged yacht were rescued in the area after making a distress call.
Separately on Wednesday, a yacht carrying 81 migrants was towed to a port on the southern coast of the Greek island of Crete after authorities received a distress call.
At least 32 migrants have died and more than 100 have since been rescued
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