Greece: At least seven dead after migrant boat capsizes off Lesbos

In the early hours of Thursday (April 3) morning, a migrant boat capsized in calm waters off the Greek island of Lesbos. The boat was detected by a coastguard patrol vessel at about 2 am north of Lesbos, reported the news agency Reuters.

It is still unclear what may have caused the boat to capsize, reported the news agency Associated Press (AP). However, many of the boats used by migrants are unseaworthy or overloaded, and so fatal accidents are not uncommon.

The boat, which departed from Turkey towards Lesbos, was reportedly carrying at least 30 people before it capsized. The Greek coast guard initially recovered four bodies from the Aegean, but later found three more during search operations, a spokesperson for the coast guard told the French news agency Agence France Presse (AFP). A total of 23 migrants from the boat were rescued.

“Their boat took on water and started to sink,” the spokesperson told AFP. According to AP, searches for more survivors are ongoing, involving three coast guard vessels, an air force helicopter, and other nearby boats.

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Two children among dead

Among those dead were four women and two children, a boy and a girl, the coast guard said. No more details have been released about the three others found, and the country of origin of the migrants has not yet been reported.

Deaths on this eastern Mediterranean route, from Turkey towards Greece, are relatively common. The UNHCR said in 2024, 125 people were recorded as dead or missing. Greek maritime police said that in March, at least one migrant died, and 18 others were rescued on this route, after the smuggler abandoned them part of the way, in order to try and escape the controls and return to Turkey undetected, reported AFP.

According to the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR data, more than 1,000 migrants have already arrived on Lesbos since the beginning of the year, and almost 9,000 (8,444) have arrived overall in Greece, the majority of them (8,089) by sea.

In 2024, more than 60,000 migrants arrived in Greece, marking a significant increase compared to previous years. A total of 54,417 migrants entered via sea routes and 7,702 via land. In 2023, these numbers stood at 41,561 by sea and 7,160 by land.

In 2022, the number of arrivals was significantly lower — 12,758 migrants entered by sea and 6,022 by land. In 2021, 4,331 entered by sea and 4,826 by land.

With AFP, AP and Reuters