Migrant dead as boat sinks off Lesbos
ATHENS: One woman drowned when a dinghy carrying dozens of people sank off the island of Lesbos on Wednesday, Greek coastguard officials said, as more migrants fleeing conflict and poverty atempt to enter Europe. Thirty-two people were rescued earlier in the morning northeast of Lesbos.
A search operation, with the help of an aircrat from the EU’S border control agency Frontex and an army helicopter, is underway as one more person has been reported missing.
Hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees used Greece as the main gateway to Europe through Turkey in 2015 and 2016, until a deal between Ankara and the European Union (EU) reduced the flow across the Greek and Turkish land and sea borders.
Sea crossings on overcrowded boats are oten hazardous and last month, the Greek coastguard found the body of a migrant near a half-sunken vessel on the Aegean island of Rhodes.
And in September at least three people drowned when a boat carrying migrants sank off the island of Crete.
Turkey hosts more than three million refugees and migrants, while tens of thousands of asylum seekers are still in Greece waiting for their applications to be processed, mostly housed in camps where conditions have been described as dire.
Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi said the Eu-turkey deal was being violated and human lives were being put at risk.
Mitarachi issued a statement expressing his “sorrow for the shipwreck and the loss of human lives.”
Mitarachi accused the Turkish coast guard of not assisting the migrants when they issued a distress call.
“It is inconceivable to allow inflatable boats, which do not meet any safety requirements and are being steered by people without permission and knowledge of the rules of the sea, to cross the Aegean,” Mitarachi said in his writen statement, adding that “those who allow it are knowingly, unfortunately, puting human lives at great risk.”
Mitarachi also criticised refugee aid groups on the Greek islands, saying they are “encouraging these behaviors.” It wasn’t immediately clear what he was referring to, or whether any aid group had been involved in Wednesday’s incident. His ministry didn’t immediately respond to a request for further comment.
Citing those rescued, Mitarachi said a Turkish boat had responded to a distress signal but did not provide aid, instead allowing “an irregular crossing” through the EU’S sea border.