The Hellenic Coast Guard announced earlier today it had recovered the bodies of a man and a young boy around 10 years old, part of a group of over 30 people onboard a vessel that was capsized as it was trying to reach the island of Samos in Northern Aegean Sea on Friday.
“The vessel carrying them sank under unspecified circumstances,” a Coast Guard spokeswoman said.
The Turkish Coast Guard found another two bodies, she added, while 20 more people from the Samos group are believed to be missing. Greek and Turkish authorities are still searching the area. Thirteen people have been rescued, including a woman and a teenage boy, who are being hospitalized. Many of the recent arrivals are escaping the civil war in Syria.
A shocking video revealed how residents of the island of Tilos, Greece, were trying to rescue immigrants in desperate need at the rocky shore near the Monastery of Agios Panteleimonas. People of all ages hanging off cliffs in order to help people struggling to swim to the shore during the strong winds prevailing at the time.
It is believed that the migrants were abandoned at the sharp cliffs off the coast of Tilos by their traffickers, without food or water. Local authorities and citizens were notified and immediately rushed to the spot for help.
Late on Saturday, another 17 migrants were rescued from the sea in another incident near the Greek island of Farmakonisi. And 77 more were found early Sunday in two separate parts near the island of Chios, after managing to land on the coast.
Since the beginning of the year, more than 9,500 migrants have been rescued at sea, while 113 traffickers have been arrested by Greek authorities. The number is double from 2013.
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