The dinghy was carrying migrants from the nearby Turkish coasts. A child and a woman were found drowned on Sunday off the Greek island of Leros, the Greek coastguard announced. Forty-one people were rescued, including six children and two adults who were transported to Leros hospital, added the coastguard, which specifies that a rescue operation is still underway to possibly find other migrants.
Three coastguard boats and a Super Puma helicopter are mobilized but the weather conditions with strong winds and rough seas make rescue operations complicated, the same sources said. The alert was given by a fisherman who found the body of the woman at sea, specifies the newspaper of the editors (Efsyn).
Thousands of deaths in the Mediterranean
According to testimonies collected by the coast guard and the police, the inflatable boat was carrying nearly 40 exiles, including children, women, and people with reduced mobility. “Unfortunately, we have once again innocent victims who have lost their lives because of the criminal attitude of the traffickers”, denounced in a press release the Minister of the Navy, Yannis Plakiotakis.
In December, a two-month-old baby was found dead after a shipwreck off the island of Lesbos. The human tragedies in the Aegean Sea are on the increase due to the risks taken by migrants who board makeshift boats on a stormy or even raging sea in winter. Since 2014, 2,246 people fleeing wars and poverty have drowned in the eastern Mediterranean, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).