(Athens) Six new bodies have been found after the shipwrecks in Greece on Wednesday and Thursday of two boats with migrants on board, the Greek coast guard announced on Saturday, bringing the death toll to at least 29.
Posted at 12:44 p.m.
They were rescued near the island of Kythera, south of the Peloponnese peninsula, where a sailboat carrying 95 migrants ran aground overnight from Wednesday to Thursday. On Friday, five bodies had already been found in this area.
Bad weather conditions hampered the search on Saturday.
Dozens of survivors, mainly from Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan, stranded at the foot of a cliff had been hoisted by rescue workers on Thursday, and 80 in total were saved.
One of them, suspected of being a smuggler, was arrested, state broadcaster Ert reported on Saturday.
At least 18 people, mostly women, died in another shipwreck off Lesbos, an eastern Mediterranean island, Thursday at dawn. The boat was carrying 40 Somalis, only ten of whom were wearing life jackets.
The Greek Coast Guard said it rescued nearly 1,500 people in the first eight months of the year, some 600 more than last year.
“We must put pressure on Turkey at EU level to prevent illegal departures from Turkey, otherwise the loss of life will continue,” said Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi on Saturday at the MED5 conference in Paphos, which brings together the five Mediterranean countries on the front line for the reception of migrants (Greece, Spain, Cyprus, Malta and Italy).
These countries expect 160,000 migrants to arrive on their shores this year, Mitarachi said last month.