Twelve migrants including a baby die in two Aegean crossings
Speedboat collides with Greek police vessel off Lesbos while second boat capsizes off Samos, presumed Iranian organiser among the fourteen rescued
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Greek authorities say 12 migrants die in two incidents in Aegean Sea
euronews.com
Twelve migrants died on Monday attempting to cross the Aegean Sea, Greek authorities said, in two separate incidents off the islands of Lesbos and Samos. Among the dead were a baby and four women.
Off Lesbos, a speedboat carrying migrants collided with the port side of a police patrol vessel. Six people died — the baby and four women among them — and eight were rescued, a coast guard official told AFP. Off Samos, a small boat capsized: six died, five men and a woman, and fourteen were rescued.
The Aegean is a much-used route for migrants crossing from Turkey, and both islands sit on the European Union's external frontier. According to the International Organisation for Migration, at least 1,209 migrants have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean since the beginning of the year.
On Monday the Greek state performed both of its roles on the route within hours of each other: a police patrol vessel was struck on its port side by a migrant speedboat, and coast guard crews rescued twenty-two people across the two sites. The deaths are counted by an international agency; the departures continue.
Among the fourteen survivors of the Samos crossing, Greek authorities said, was a presumed Iranian organiser — the person paid to arrange the passage, aboard the boat when it capsized.