Migrant death toll rises to 21 in Greece shipwrecks: coastguard

Migrant boat in the Mediterranean. Photo collected

Athens, Nov 2, 2022 - Greece's coastguard on Wednesday said it  had recovered 21 bodies from two migrant boat sinkings earlier this week.

Twenty bodies were found near the island of Evia on Wednesday, a day after  a sailboat believed to be carrying nearly 70 people sank in stormy seas, a  coastguard spokeswoman told AFP.

A body had also been recovered Tuesday in another accident off the Greek  island of Samos, where a dinghy from the Turkish coast capsized with 12 people on board.

Over 30 people are still feared missing in the Evia incident, with another seven missing in the Samos sinking.

Earlier on Wednesday the coastguard had confirmed 14 deaths.

Greece, Italy and Spain are destinations for people fleeing Africa and the Middle East in search of safety and better lives in the European Union. 

The Greek coastguard has said it rescued about 1,500 people in the first eight months of the year, compared to fewer than 600 last year.

Greek officials say people smugglers now often take a longer and more perilous route south to bypass EU patrols in the Aegean in a bid to reach Italy.

Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi this week said it was practically impossible to monitor the "thousands" of vessels sailing in international waters south of Greece.

"In 2021, around 80 percent of (migrant) departures from Turkey went straight to Italy," Mitarachi told Parapolitika radio.

"Of course, when weather conditions are extreme, these boats don't make it," he said.

Over 20 people had also died in October in two migrant shipwrecks near the islands of Kythira and Lesbos.

The International Organization for Migration has recorded nearly 300 dead and missing migrants in the eastern Mediterranean this year, including 22 children.

In 2021, the equivalent figure was 111. - AFP