Skip to main content

14 migrants including four children die as boat capsizes off the coast of Greece

14 migrants including four children die as boat capsizes off the coast of Greece
At least 14 migrants, including four children, died when a boat carrying about 20 people capsized overnight in the Aegean Sea, Greek police said today. The boat was ferrying migrants from Turkey to Greece.

Police recovered eight more bodies after the corpses of a man, a woman and four children surfaced off the island of Agathonissi. Two women and a man who managed to swim to safety sounded the alarm. Survivors said the boat was carrying 21 people, according to port officials.

A patrol boat, a military helicopter and three fishing vessels are taking part in the rescue operation and officials are waiting for reinforcements from Frontex, the European border agency. Frontex said last month that in 2017, the European Union saw the lowest number of detected illegal border-crossings since the migrant crisis began four years ago.

The number dwindled to 204,700 from 1.8 million in 2015, it said. The drop was especially observed on the eastern Mediterranean migratory route which connects Turkey to Greece, and the central Mediterranean route connecting Libya to Italy.  

The EU last year reached deal with Turkey in 2016, which sharply reduced the number of people crossing to Greece. It has been criticised by humanitarian workers as it stipulates that all arrivals will be sent back to Turkey, including Syrian refugees. Greece is also detaining thousands of migrants in overcrowded squalid camps.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Photos: World's richest man Jeff Bezos and new girlfriend spotted gazing into each other's eyes 3-months before he announced divorce from estranged wife

New photos of World's richest man  Jeff Bezos  and new girlfriend  Lauren Sanchez  enjoying a romantic dinner in  Los Angeles have surfaced online. The photos which were reportedly taken on October 30, 2018, shows the pair gazing adoringly into each other's eyes and laughing together.  A source said the couple were snapped while dining with a male and female companion at the Capo Restaurant in Santa Monica.  'They seemed to be in their own world,' the source told the National Enquirer. 'Bezos and Sanchez barely spoke to their two companions all night.'  The source said Bezos was close to Sanchez 'from the beginning, laughing and joking and whispering to her'.  'She was gazing into his eyes throughout the first part of the evening as they sat next to each other,' they added. 'It did not look like a business dinner, and he barely spoke to the male companion all evening.' The pair spent the night gazing i...

Nigerian man who posed as American millionaire to dupe women arrested in Thailand

Thai Tourist Police launched a manhunt for conspirators in a “romance scam” gang after they arrested a 32-year-old Nigerian who allegedly lured a Thai woman in Lampang province into wiring him nearly Bt100,000. Tourist Police Bureau deputy commissioner Pol Maj-General Surachet Hakparn said in a press conference yesterday that the suspect, Emery Henry Ogba, was a member of a gang believed to have a monthly income of Bt1 million from illicit operations. Ogba was nabbed at a department store in Nonthaburi province on April 21, following an arrest warrant issued by a Lampang Court on March 29 on charges of fraud and overstaying his visa. Police seized Bt42,700 in cash, some ATM cards and bank books, and four mobile phones. Surachet said that one of the conspirators was a Thai woman. “On February 21, a 41-year-old woman filed complaints with police in Lampang’s Koh Ka area that a man who identified himself as Mark Westwood, an American millionaire,...

Police arrest cyber criminals that transfer funds from stolen sim cards(photo)

Lagos State Police Command has arrested a 6 - man syndicate that specialised in robbing Lagosians of their mobile phones and turning over its SIM cards to hackers who get hold of the account details of its owners and transfer its balances to their accounts. Parading the group today, the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Imohimi Edgal disclosed that the syndicate comprised of three splinter groups visiting choice locations in the state to rob members of the public of their phones. He stated that six suspects have been arrested by the Decoy Team of Rapid Response Squad of the command in relation to the fraud. He noted that the group handed over the SIMs to another set of people that would through special computer apps get the bank account details of the owners and thereafter get the account balances. Edgal added that the balance of the account is now transferred into different accounts sourced by another set of suspects. According to the Commissioner, Nwanze Ifeanyi (27), Mart...