Shipwreck in Greece: Eighty migrants were rescued off the Peloponnese

Eighty migrants were rescued from the sea on Wednesday after their boat capsized off the Peloponnese in southwestern Greece, during a rescue operation by the Greek authorities, officials said. coast guard.

“Since early Wednesday morning, an extensive rescue operation has been underway off Pylos when a fishing boat capsized with a large number of migrants on board,” a coastguard statement said. The number of migrants has not been specified so far by the Greek authorities.

“So far 80 migrants have been rescued from the sea and will be transferred to Kalamata, a port in the southern Peloponnese,” a spokeswoman told AFP.

The sinking took place in international waters, 47 nautical miles from Pylos in the Ionian Sea, according to the same source. In addition to the port police patrol boats, a frigate from the Greek navy, an airplane and a helicopter from the air force as well as six boats which sailed in the area took part in this rescue operation.

Winds of about 12 km/hour (3 Beaufort) were blowing in the area. According to initial information from the authorities, the migrant boat had sailed from Libya to Italy.

With a long maritime border at the external borders of the European Union in the eastern Mediterranean, Greece is a regular passage for migrants usually coming from neighboring Turkey to northern Europe.

Many often deadly shipwrecks take place in the Aegean Sea, which separates Greece and Turkey, while Greece is often accused of “illegally” turning back migrant boats. Besides this passage, migrants also try to cross directly to Italy by crossing the Mediterranean in the south of the Peloponnese or the island of Crete.

AFP

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