Greece: Four migrants dead after boat incident off Kos
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Two women and two children died in a migrant boat incident on Tuesday evening near the Greek island of Kos. Another 27 passengers were rescued, according to Greek coast guards. Local authorities arrested one smuggling suspect.
Ten people were reportedly thrown from a boat carrying thirty migrants late on Tuesday when the driver tried to evade a coast guard patrol, according to Greek authorities. Four of them did not survive.
The two children who died were boys, according to Greek news agency ANA-MPA, and aged three and five, according to several Greek news outlets, including ERTNews.
One of the boat’s passengers is suspected of being a smuggler and was arrested by Greek authorities. 26 of the survivors — 14 men, four woman and eight minors — were reportedly sent to a reception facility on the island of Kos, according to the Greek coast guard.
It is believed the boat left from Turkey; at its closest point, Kos is located just around five kilometers from the southeastern Turkish coast.
No one remains missing from the boat, according to the Greek coast guard.
Coast guard claims smuggler drove dangerously
A Greek coast guard patrol boat had spotted the migrants’ vessel off northeastern Kos on Tuesday evening, moving at high speed without any lights, according to a statement released by the Greek coast guard. The coast guard claimed that their officers signaled to the migrants’ boat with light and sound, and that the person driving the vessel did not comply and instead “made abrupt and dangerous maneuvers at high speed.” This threw some of the passengers from the boat and immobilized the vessel, the coast guard said.
Ten people were reportedly pulled from the water by rescuers from three coast guard boats and one private vessel, including two women and two children, who were pronounced dead after being rushed to a local hospital.
Deadly boat incidents between Greece and Turkey
This was the latest in a series of deadly migrant boat incidents in the waters between Turkey and the Greek Aegean islands.
Another woman died near Kos late last month after a capsizing. About a month ago, at least one person died in another incident off Samos where coast guards also claimed a smuggler tried to evade their patrol. A week later, four people (including a girl) died in a small boat incident, also off Samos.
More migrants missing after sinking near Gavdos
Early on Wednesday, another migrant boat incident occurred south of the island of Gavdos. A cargo ship rescued 96 migrants after their boat sank. Several coast guard and private vessels, as well as a helicopter, were searching for missing people. According to German news agency dpa, ten people remain missing.
More and more migrant boats have landed on Gavdos — a small island south of the bigger, better known island of Crete – in recent months, mostly from Libya. The island is located in the southwest of Greece, around 300 kilometers from eastern Libya.
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