Two shipwrecks that happened this Thursday (06) in the Aegean Sea, in Greece, left at least 40 dead, including 16 women and a minor, as well as dozens of people missing.
In the east of the island of Lesbos, a vessel in which 40 people were traveling, apparently African women and minors, sank in the midst of strong winds.
According to the most recent balance, until the At the moment, the Greek coast guard recovered 17 bodies.
Coast Guard spokesman Nikos Kokkalas told local television station ERT that they are young people, most of African origin, who left on the boat off the coast of Turkey.
The authorities were unable to identify the countries of origin, as the rescued people were in a state of shock, having difficulty communicating.
The search continues on Lesbos and on the island of Kythera, where a small boat with about a hundred of migrants crashed into rocks.
So far, rescue teams have managed to rescue 80 people who tied themselves to the rocks with ropes thrown by Coast Guard agents.
Of all those removed from the water, 18 are minors, seven are women and 55 are men, according to the authorities. In all, 11 people are still hospitalized.
According to testimonies of the rescued themselves, on board the vessel were about 100 people, mainly from Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Kokkalas.
The Greek Minister of Migration, Notis Mitarakis, urged Turkey to act “immediately” to prevent further irregular departures from the country’s coast, especially due to the difficult current weather conditions.
Twitter, the member of the Greek government even called the European Union (EU) to “act” in the situation.
The Minister of Maritime Transport and Island Policy of Greece, Yannis Plakiotakis, was more direct and blamed Ankara for the shipwrecks.
“Once again, Turkey’s tolerance of networks of unscrupulous traffickers cost human lives”, he lamented.
