The coast guard reported on Saturday that at least five migrants perished when their wooden boat overturned off the southern Greek island of Gavdos, and that numerous others were still unaccounted for while search efforts went on.
Cargo ships operating in the region have so far rescued 39 men, the majority of whom are from Pakistan. The coast guard has moved them to the island of Crete, but they have not yet determined how many people are still missing.
After informing the Greek authorities about the incident on Friday night, coast guard boats, merchant vessels, an Italian frigate, and naval aircraft have been searching the area.
In two different incidents on Saturday, a tanker rescued another 88 migrants about 28 nautical miles off the small island in southern Greece, and a cargo ship flying the flag of Malta rescued 47 migrants from a boat about 40 nautical miles off Gavdos.
Coast Guard officials believe the boats departed Libya together, based on preliminary information.
In 2015-2016, almost 1 million people arrived on Greece’s islands, primarily on inflatable dinghies, making it a preferred entry point to the European Union for migrants and refugees from the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.
Over the past year, there have been an increasing number of incidents involving migrant boats and shipwrecks off the small neighbor Gavdos and Crete, which are located in the relatively remote central Mediterranean.
An overcrowded ship capsized and sank in international waters off the coastal town of Pylos in southwest Greece in 2023, killing hundreds of migrants. It was among the Mediterranean Sea’s deadliest boat accidents ever.
