At least 15 dead in separate Greece migrant boat sinking incidents
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Rescuers are still searching for dozens more migrants.
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Authorities and local residents take part in a large-scale rescue operation on the island of Kythira, some 225 kilometers (140 miles) south of Athens, early Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022. (AP)
Greece's coastguard announced on Thursday that it had recovered the bodies of 15 people in two separate migrant boat sinking incidents, with several more feared missing.
The bodies of 15 women of apparent African descent were discovered on the island of Lesbos after a dinghy carrying approximately 40 people sank east of the island during severe winds, according to coastguard spokesperson Nikos Kokkalas on state television ERT.
There was no official toll yet from the second sinking south of the Peloponnese peninsula.
Nine more ladies were rescued in the Lesbos incident, according to Kokkalas, while another 14 persons were suspected to remain missing. "The women were utterly panicked," he said.
A sailboat in difficulty was reported to the coastguard a few hours earlier on the island of Kythira, south of the Peloponnese peninsula. The sailboat, which was carrying approximately 95 people, went aground and drowned near the island town of Diakofti.
Some of the survivors made it to shore, and a joint operation involving ships at sea and the fire department and police on land had located 80 people. Kokkalas said the sailboat had been "completely destroyed".
Read next: Greece: Migrant boat sinks, leaving up to 50 people missing
The nationalities of the asylum seekers involved in the Kythira event were not immediately revealed. Both operations were subjected to high winds. Winds in the Kythira area reached 102 kilometers per hour (63 miles per hour), according to the coastguard.
Greece has witnessed an increase in migration traffic this year, with smugglers often employing the longer and more perilous route south of the country, and sailing out from Lebanon instead of Turkey, to bypass patrols in the Aegean Sea and reach Italy.
Greece, Italy, and Spain are among the European Union entrance points utilized by individuals fleeing Africa and the Middle East in quest of a better life.
It has saved almost 1,500 people in the first eight months of the year, up from fewer than 600 the previous year, according to the coastguard.
Read next: Two migrants die after Greek guards throw them in sea: Report
At least 30 people perished, last year in December, in three separate migrant boat sinking incidents in the Aegean. However, exact tallies are hard to keep as some bodies are never recovered or reach shore weeks later.
Greece has consistently refuted rights groups' assertions that many more people have been illegally deported to Turkey without being permitted to file asylum petitions.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last month said Greek "oppressive policies" against migrants were turning the Aegean into a "graveyard".
On his part, Notis Mitarachi, Greece's Migration Minister, responded this week that Turkey is "violently pushing forward migrants to Greece, in violation of international law" and a 2016 migration agreement with the EU.
