Many people are still missing in the waters off the coast of Greece [Архив: Береговая охрана Греции]
On Saturday, the bodies of five people were recovered from the sea southwest of the island of Gavdos after three boats carrying migrants sank on the night of December 13-14.
The exact number of missing people has not yet been established. According to media reports, there were about 80 people on board one of the sunken ships, while winds in the area were blowing with force 5 on the Beaufort scale.
In the first incident, 39 people, all men, were rescued, in the second, 47, and in the third, a total of 88 people were rescued.
At the request of the Search and Rescue Coordination Centre, a Hellenic Navy helicopter was sent to the crash site and joined the first search and rescue operation at a distance of 12.5 nautical miles southwest of Gavdos and recovered another survivor who was taken to the helicopter. general hospital site in Chania.
The search and rescue operation involved a coastguard rescue vessel, four nearby vessels, an Italian frigate and a helicopter.
The rescued migrants were initially taken to Paleochora in Chania and from there to the migrant reception center in Agia Chania. One migrant with signs of drowning was taken by ambulance to Chania Hospital and admitted to intensive care, as were three people suffering from heart problems and hypothermia respectively.
Sources told media that the process of transferring rescued migrants to Agia was ongoing, while 45 people took a ferry to Piraeus on Sunday morning. According to the deputy mayor of Chania, Eleni Zervoudaki, they have access to medical care and medicine, shoes, clothing, blankets, food, and everyone at the center is in good health.
According to the Greek coast guard, the boats with migrants set sail from Libya. At the moment, several dozen people are still missing.
In recent years, Greece has become one of the main transit routes for illegal migrants entering Europe, with a significant number of people crossing its territory every year on their way to other European countries.
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