4 arrested after boat with 97 found off Greek island
The Hellenic Coast Guard said that the four had been among 97 people on board the boat found Thursday northeast of the island of Kea, which lies off the southeastern coast of the Greek capital. The remaining passengers were 32 men, 22 women and 39 minors, the coast guard said.
The passengers, who were transported to the Greek mainland by a coast guard vessel, were from Egypt, Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia, Israel and Iraq, the coast guard said. The boat had set sail from Izmir in Turkey and had been bound for Italy, with the migrants paying smugglers in Turkey 8,000 Euros each for the trip.
Tens of thousands of people fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East, Asia and Africa try to make their way into the European Union each year via perilous sea journeys. The vast majority head to eastern Greek islands from the nearby Turkish coast in small inflatable dinghies or attempt to cross directly to Italy from north Africa and Turkey in larger vessels.
Morever, in unfortunate more recent related news, an infant was found dead upon arriving to a Greek island on a boat carrying 34 other migrants, authorities announced Saturday.
The coast guard said in a statement that a patrol vessel found the boat early Friday on a rocky shore near the town of Plomari on the island of Lesbos, close to the Turkish coast.
An ambulance arrived on the scene soon after, but a doctor merely confirmed the infant’s death.
Authorities were investigating, and an autopsy was pending. The coast guard did not say where the migrants were from.
Migrants make boat voyages year-round from Turkey to Greece and even as far as Italy. (AP)
