ANKARA, Türkiye: At least five migrants drowned after their wooden boat, carrying many Pakistanis, capsized off the southern Greek island of Gavdos, the coast guard said on Saturday, with witnesses saying Many migrants were still missing as search operations continued.
So far, 39 men, mostly from Pakistan, have been rescued by cargo ships sailing through the region. They were transferred to the island of Crete, the coast guard said, adding that the number of people missing had not yet been confirmed.
Coast guard boats, merchant ships, an Italian frigate and naval aircraft have searched the area since Greek authorities were alerted to the incident on Friday evening.
In separate incidents on Saturday, a Maltese-flagged cargo ship rescued 47 migrants from a boat sailing about 40 nautical miles off Gavdos, while an oil tanker rescued another 88 migrants some 28 nautical miles off the coast. small island in southern Greece.
According to initial information, the coast guard believes that the boats left together from Libya.
Greece was a preferred gateway to the European Union for migrants and refugees from the Middle East, Africa and Asia in 2015-2016, when almost a million people landed on its islands , mainly via inflatable boats.
Incidents involving migrant boats and shipwrecks off Crete and its smaller neighbor Gavdos, relatively isolated in the central Mediterranean, have increased over the past year.
In 2023, hundreds of migrants drowned when an overcrowded ship capsized and sank in international waters off the coastal town of Pylos, southwest Greece. It was one of the deadliest maritime disasters ever to occur in the Mediterranean and there were at least 209 Pakistanis on board the boat.
