The Latest: 16 migrants dead off the coast of Greek island


10 photos
Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The Latest on the sinking of a suspected migrant boat off Greece (all times local):

6:30 p.m.

Greece's coast guard says 16 migrants have died after a boat sank off a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, including six children.

This raises the figure from the 14 announced previously.

The United Nations' Refugee Agency says Saturday that this is the first shipwreck in the Aegean in 2018, but adds that some 500 refugees and migrants have lost their lives or gone missing in the Aegean over the past two years.

Sunday is the second anniversary of a European Union-Turkey deal blocking mass migration into Europe. About 2,000 protesters on Saturday marched through central Athens outside EU offices decrying Europe's closed borders. They also protested Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Turkey's military incursion into Syria.

___

1:20 p.m.

Greek police say two people died and seven were injured, most of them seriously, when the driver of a car carrying undocumented migrants lost control while chased by police and the vehicle was upended.

The incident took place Saturday morning on a highway near the northern city of Xanthi. The nationalities of the victims are still unknown, police say. It is not yet known if a trafficker is among the dead.

In two other separate incidents Friday, a 32-year-old Syrian was arrested near Greece's northeastern land border with Turkey, carrying 12 undocumented migrants from Eritrea and Tanzania, police said Saturday.

Also Friday, a 26-year-old Lebanese truck driver and a 25-year-old Palestinian wanted as a trafficker were arrested for trying to smuggle 30 Syrian citizens into Greece.

___

11 a.m.

Greece's coast guard says the bodies of 14 people have been recovered from the sea off a Greek island in the eastern Aegean following the sinking of a suspected migrant smuggling boat.

A massive search and rescue operation was underway to locate others believed missing.

Initially, the bodies of four children, one man and one woman were recovered off the island of Agathonisi, south of the island of Samos, the coast guard said Saturday..

Eight more bodies were recovered a short time later southeast of Agathonisi, the coast guard said. A spokeswoman said it was not immediately known whether they were adults or minors.

Three people - two women and a man - managed to reach the coast and alert authorities. The three told authorities they had been in a wooden boat which sank with an estimated 21 people on board.

___

9:15 a.m.

Greece's coast guard says the bodies of six people have been recovered from the sea off a Greek island in the eastern Aegean following the sinking of a suspected migrant smuggling boat.

The bodies of four children, one man and one woman were recovered off the island of Agathonisi Saturday morning, the coast guard said. Three people — two women and a man — managed to reach the coast and alert authorities to the boat sinking.

The three told authorities they had been in a wooden boat carrying an estimated 21 people which sank, for reasons that were not immediately clear.

A massive search and rescue operation was underway involving three aircraft, Greek navy and coast guard vessels, a vessel from the European border agency Frontex and private boats.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Photos

Most recent World stories

Related topics

World
The Associated Press

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast