ATHENS: Greece’s coastguard said on Sunday that it had found the body of a man believed to have drowned when a migrant boat sank near the island of Samos.
The Coastguard said that twenty-five people it described as foreigners were spotted on a semi-submerged dinghy and rescued from the sea west of the South Aegean Island, according to AFP. It added that they were transferred in good health to the port of Vathi.
Searches for missing people were underway with the help of European Union (EU) border agency Frontex. The state-run news channel reported survivors as saying 4 people were missing.
Greece Witnesses Increase in Undocumented Migrants
Greece has seen an uptick in undocumented migrants this year. Over 7,000 people arrived in January and February, an increase of 184% compared to 2023 according to official data.
The country of 10.4 million has received over 460,000 applications for asylum since 2013, including more than 12,500 this year.
The islands in the northeastern Aegean Sea are one of the gateways for asylum seekers hoping to reach the EU, many fleeing conflict or poverty.
In June 2023, eighty-two people drowned and hundreds went missing when a migrant trawler sank off the coast of Pylos.
Multiple probes into the tragedy are still underway and some NGOs have accused the Greek coastguard of delaying efforts to come to the migrants’ help.
