Greece: Sailboat carrying 75 migrants safely towed to port

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ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A sailboat carrying dozens of migrants that experienced despatched a distress sign in rough climate off the southern suggestion of mainland Greece has been safely and securely towed to port, Greece’s coast guard stated Friday. There had been no stories of any injuries or lacking people.

A wide lookup and rescue operation was released just after the boat issued the distress phone whilst sailing all around 3 nautical miles (3.4 miles, 5.5 kilometers) south of Cape Maleas in the southern Peloponnese area, the coastline guard reported.

The vessel was safely towed to a nearby port early Friday early morning and was found to have been carrying 75 people today — 69 adult males and six females. Authorities did not have any instant information and facts on the passengers’ nationalities, where the boat experienced established sail from or what its intended desired destination was.

1000’s of folks fleeing conflict and poverty in Africa, Asia and the Middle East attempt to enter the European Union through Greece every year.

Most head to jap Greek islands from the nearby Turkish coast in small rubber dinghies, but increasingly other people are opting to take bigger boats, these kinds of as sailboats and yachts, which sometimes find to bypass Greece and head straight to Italy. The two routes can be deadly.

Before this thirty day period, at the very least 27 people drowned in two different incidents of migrant boats sinking in Greek waters.

In 1, 18 folks died when a boat that experienced set sail from Turkey sank off the jap Aegean Sea island of Lesbos. Hours before, a yacht carrying about 100 migrants sank in a gale, killing at minimum 9 persons and leaving 6 lacking.

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