A search and rescue operation was launched Monday after a boat carrying migrants sank off the small Greek island of Symi overnight, killing at least three people, coast guard officials said.
Eight people were rescued, two of them taken to hospital on the neighboring island of Rhodes and the rest to the main port of Symi, the coast guard said.
Authorities said the bodies of two men and one woman were recovered from the sea. According to survivors, two more people who were in the tuzik were allegedly able to get to the shore on their own.
Two coast guard vessels, four private boats and an Air Force helicopter were searching for the two missing people. The nationality of the people on board the tuzik could not be determined.
Greece is located along one of the most popular smuggling routes for people fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia and trying to reach the European Union.
Many use small boats to cross from Turkey to the Greek islands off the Turkish coast, while others use larger sailboats, yachts or fishing boats to make the longer journey from Turkey or North Africa to Italy, bypassing Greece. [AP]
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