A second drama in a few days. Greek port police announced on Wednesday that they had found the body of a baby “in advanced decomposition” on the south coast of the island of Lesbos, one of the main entry points into Europe for migrants from neighboring Turkey.
Found on “the coast of Agios Ermogenis, in the south of the island, the body was transferred to the hospital in Mytilene where an autopsy must be carried out”, according to a press release from the coast guard.
This text recalls that 45 people had been arrested on December 9 near this coast, including a woman who had declared that her baby had fallen into the water before their landing on the island.
Many migrants attempt the crossing from Turkey
Another two-month-old baby was found dead on Friday in the same region of the island when a zodiac carrying migrants, mainly from Africa, overturned. During rescue operations by the Coast Guard, 32 people were rescued and transferred to Mytilene.
Many migrants fleeing wars and poverty risk their lives by making the perilous crossing of a few nautical miles between the Greek islands in the eastern Aegean Sea and Turkey, located in the eastern Mediterranean.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 368 people have died or gone missing in the eastern Mediterranean since the start of the year so far, compared to a total of 111 in 2021.