ATHENS, Greece (AFP) – Greece’s coastguard on Thursday said a man drowned and several more were rescued in the latest migrant boat sinking in the Aegean Sea.
The coastguard said two of its patrol boats responded to a distress call near the island of Kos late on Wednesday.
They found 11 men in the water, one of them unconscious. He was pronounced dead on arrival at Kos harbor, the coastguard said.
Two weeks ago, two migrant vessels sank near the islands of Evia and Samos. At least 30 people perished and several are still missing.
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.
“Eighty percent of flows from Turkey go straight to Italy,” Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi told Skai TV this week.
© Agence France-Presse