16 migrants and refugees dead in Greek shipwreck

At least 16 people lost their lives after their boat capsized in the Greek island of Paros in the central Aegean Sea, making this the third maritime disaster involving migrants and refugees this week, the country’s coastguard said.

Greek authorities launched a search-and-rescue operation north of Paros overnight on Friday, December 24. The local Greek news outlet said in a report that 12 men, three women, and an infant were found dead in the area.

It was believed that there were about 80 people on board the vessel which, according to the coastguard, was believed to have been headed for Italy from Turkey.

Air and sea rescue resources have been deployed, the coastguard said early on Saturday, December 25.

Greece has become a major point of entry into the European Union for refugees and migrants from Africa, the Middle East, and beyond, even if the number of people crossing into other countries has decreased significantly since 2015-2016 when more than a million people crossed into other EU states.

On Friday, Greek authorities said that 11 bodies had been recovered from another shipwreck when a sailboat carrying refugees capsized off an uninhabited island in southern Greece on Thursday. The operation resulted in the rescue of 90 people.

Overnight between Tuesday and Wednesday, a boat carrying at least 50 refugees sank off the island of Folegandros, and dozens remain unaccounted for.

UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, explained that the Folegandros accident was the worst in the Aegean Sea this year.

“This shipwreck is a painful reminder that people continue to embark on perilous voyages in search of safety,” Adriano Silvestri, the UNHCR’s assistant representative in Greece, informed the AFP news agency.

The UNHCR estimates that over 2,500 people have died or gone missing at sea on their way to Europe between January and November.

Nearly 1 million people, mainly consisting of Syrian refugees, arrived in the EU in 2015 after crossing the Mediterranean into Greece.