ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Four people, including a child, died after a boat carrying migrants sank off the coast of an eastern Aegean island on Tuesday, Greece’s coast guard said.
A coast guard patrol boat recovered the bodies of two women, a man and a girl from the sea on the southern coast of the island of Lesbos, the coast guard said, adding that a semi-submerged boat was found near a rocky part of the shore nearby.
Thirty-four survivors made it to shore on their own and were found by police. A search and rescue operation on land and sea was called off after survivors told authorities there had been a total of 38 people on board the boat and there were no further missing people.
It was not immediately clear what had caused the sinking, and authorities did not immediately have any further details on the nationalities of the survivors or of the victims.
Greece is one of the main entry points into the European Union for people fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Many make the short but perilous journey from the Turkish coast to nearby Greek islands in inflatable dinghies or other small boats, often unseaworthy, and fatal sinkings have been common.
