One Dead, Two Missing After Migrant Boat Sinks Near Greece
A wooden boat carrying 100 migrants sank south of Gavdos, Greece, on Wednesday, resulting in one confirmed death and two missing. Greece’s coast guard reported that a passing cargo ship rescued 97 individuals, who are now being taken to Heraklion, Crete.
Among the survivors are 50 men from Pakistan, 39 men and two women from Sudan, five men from Bangladesh, and one from Somalia. The boat sank approximately 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Gavdos, with survivors indicating that three men, from Pakistan and Sudan, are unaccounted for. The body of one man was recovered, and search operations for the other two are ongoing. The cause of the sinking remains unclear.
This incident follows another tragedy the day before, where two women and two children drowned near Kos when a smuggling boat capsized. Greece has become a crucial entry point into the European Union for migrants fleeing conflict and poverty, with over 42,000 arrivals recorded this year alone, most arriving by sea.
Greece’s Deputy Minister for Migration, Sofia Voultepsi, highlighted the ongoing migration challenges due to conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, exacerbated by climate change. She called for a common EU-wide system for handling deportations of those whose asylum claims are denied, as the new EU migration pact is set to take effect in mid-2026.
In Italy, a navy ship recently docked in Albania with 16 migrants intercepted at sea, and their asylum claims will be processed there. Additionally, Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk plans to temporarily suspend asylum rights as part of a new migration policy.
