(ATHENS) A child and a woman were found drowned on Sunday off the Greek island of Leros, after the sinking of an inflatable boat carrying migrants from the neighboring Turkish coasts, announced the Greek coast guard.
Thirty-three people were rescued, including six children who were transported to Leros hospital, added the coast guard, 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).
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.
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 rough seas, even stormy ones 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).