12 died, 21 rescued as migrant boat sank off Western Greece island Paxos (Paxi)
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At least twelve people drowned when their boat sank off an island in western Greece on Saturday, Greek authorities said, marking the deadliest toll in months in Greece’s migrant crisis.
Authorities said the boat took on water near the island of Paxi during an apparent attempt to reach Italy.
Twenty one people were rescued, the coastguard said. Authorities said they had accounts of up to 50 people being on the vessel.
There was no further information about the migrants, including age, gender and ethnic background.
eKathimerini reports that the coast guard said someone from the boat had called the 112 emergency number at 9:15 a.m. local time (0715 GMT) Saturday.
The Greek authorities said they had scrambled to the area after receiving a distress signal from the boat which was taking in water. No further details were immediately available.
Six coast guard patrol boats and two navy helicopters were engaged in the continuing rescue effort, the coast guard said, adding that four passing cargo ships were also assisting the operation.
With the closure of borders along the so-called Balkan refugee route, some asylum seekers in Greece are trying clandestine routes to leave the country and reach Western Europe, including mountain routes into Albania or by sailing to neighbouring Italy.
