ATHENS, April 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Greece’s coastguard said on Sunday it had found the body of a man believed to have drowned when a migrant boat sank near the island of Samos.
It said 25 people it described as “foreigners” were spotted on a “semi-submerged dinghy … and rescued from the sea west of the South Aegean island”.
They were transferred in good health to the port of Vathi, the coastguard added.
Searches for missing people were underway with the help of European Union border agency Frontex.
State-run TV channel ERT reported survivors as saying four people were missing.
Greece has seen a rise in undocumented migrants this year.
More than 7,000 people arrived in January and February, an increase of 184 percent compared to 2023 according to official data.
The country of 10.4 million has received more than 460,000 applications for asylum since 2013, including over 12,500 this year.
The islands in the northeastern Aegean Sea are one of the gateways for asylum seekers hoping to reach the European Union, many fleeing conflict or poverty.
In June 2023, 82 people drowned and hundreds went missing when a migrant trawler sank off the coast of Pylos.
Several enquiries into the tragedy are still underway and certain NGOs have accused the Greek coastguard of delaying efforts to come to the migrants’ aid. — NNN-AGENCIES
