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Boat sinks off Greece, 12 migrants dead

A boat carrying migrants has sunk off the Greek coast, with authorities saying 12 people drowned.

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At least 12 migrants including four children died after their inflatable boat sank off a western Greek island in the Ionian Sea, port authorities say.

Fifteen migrants managed to escape and alerted authorities to the accident, which occurred early on Friday near the island of Lefkada, a spokeswoman for the port police told AFP.

She said authorities were searching for other victims, adding that the migrants had been travelling in an eight-metre inflatable dinghy.

Their nationalities and port of departure were not known.

The survivors landed at Paleros, a small western Greek coastal town opposite Lefkada.

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"We find it puzzling how this accident occurred as weather conditions in the area were excellent this morning, and it also happened near the coast," Lefkada Mayor Costas Aravanis told Skai TV.

Greece is one of the main ports of entry into the European Union for migrants and refugees fleeing war-torn and impoverished countries in Africa, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent.

Refugee traffic has soared in the past year because of the war in Syria, with arrivals by sea increasing owing to stricter controls on the Greek-Turkish northern land border.

Europe's immigration policies have come under the spotlight after more than 400 asylum seekers drowned in October in two tragedies near another popular migrant port of entry, the Italian island of Lampedusa.


2 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AAP



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