News / EU

15 drown as refugee boat sinks off Greece’s Lesbos

Monday, 24 April 2017 1:44 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 24 April 2017 1:44 PM ]

A Syrian refugee is helped by volunteers to leave a sinking dinghy at a beach on the Greek island of Lesbos on February 28, 2016. (Photo by AP)

Greece's coastguard says at least 15 people, including children, have died in a suspected refugee boat sinking off the Aegean island of Lesbos.

Eight of the bodies were recovered in Greek waters while the Turkish coastguard found another seven bodies, a Greek coastguard spokeswoman told AFP.

Two women, one of them pregnant, were recovered alive.

"According to the pregnant woman, there were 25 people on board the boat that sank," the coastguard spokeswoman said.

The dead apparently included nine men, four women and two children, she said, adding that Greek authorities had received no distress call prior to finding the bodies.

Several vessels are continuing the search.

Lesbos was the main gateway into the European Union in 2015 for nearly a million Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans who crossed from Turkey.

A deal between the EU and Ankara in March last year to stem the flow of refugees has all but closed down that route.

Just over 4,800 refugees and asylum seekers have crossed to Greece from Turkey this year, according to data from the UN refugee agency, and about 20 arrive on Greek islands each day. At least 173,000 people, mostly Syrians, landed in Greece in 2016.

(Source: Agencies)

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