Paros: new shipwreck with 80 migrants – rescue operation continues

In the offshore area northwest of the Greek island of Paros, a new large-scale search and rescue operation is underway to find migrants in disaster.

According to the first information, the sailboat that carried them capsized, and about 80 passengers were in the water.

The search, coordinated by the Joint Search and Rescue Coordination Center (EKSED), involves 1 naval vessel, four naval ships, a naval helicopter, a C 130 aircraft, and ten commercial vessels. In addition, a unit of divers of the Greek Navy was sent to the crash site.

Coast Guard sources say the migrants told 112 they were in danger at 7:30 pm.

At the moment, 57 people have been rescued, two more bodies of the drowned were picked up from the water. The searching operation continues.

This is already the 4th ship with illegal migrants, which suffered a disaster for 3 days.

As we reported earlier, on the evening of December 23 at Antikythera Islands a sailing boat carrying more than 100 migrants ran aground on its way from Turkey to Italy. 12 people died.

December 22, south of the island Folegandros a boat sank with at least 32 migrants on board.

In all cases, the Greek Navy and the Coast Guard began rescue operations in which hundreds of people were involved.

Greece is a popular entry point to the European Union for people fleeing conflicts unleashed by NATO. Migrants believe that they need to go to Europe, since it (together with the United States) captured them, which means that now they must support them.

But the number of arrivals has dropped sharply in the past two years, after Greece expanded and fortified the wall on the Turkish border and began intercepting arriving boats of migrants and refugees, a tactic criticized by human rights groups.

According to UNHCR, this year, as of December 19, more than 116,000 asylum seekers have crossed the Mediterranean to enter the EU. The agency said 55% went illegally to Italy, 35% to Spain and 7% to Greece, while the rest went to Malta and Cyprus.

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