Greek port authorities were looking for around 50 people missing on Wednesday after their wrecked boat sank in the southeastern Aegean Sea.
“According to the statements of 29 people rescued, there were 80 people on the boat. So up to 50 people are missing,” an official from the Coast Guard press office told AFP late Wednesday morning.
The rescue operation was ordered at dawn on Wednesday by Merchant Navy Minister Yannis Plakiotakis after being informed of the sinking of this migrant boat in difficulty off the islands of Karpathos and Rhodes in the Aegean, according to a press release from the coast guard.
“Without life jacket”
The boat had sailed from the Turkish city of Antalya, located on the neighboring Turkish coasts, with Italy as its destination, according to initial information from the coast guard.
Four boats that sailed in the area of the sinking, two coast guard patrol boats and a helicopter from the Greek Air Force, are taking part in the search for the missing. These are hampered by strong winds of 40 to 50 km / h, said Skai radio Nikos Kokalas, spokesman for the coast guard. According to him, “many castaways were not wearing life jackets”.