At least five migrants have died, and others remain missing following a series of rescue operations, the Greek Coast Guard reported during the weekend.
The Greek Coast Guard confirmed that four separate incidents required emergency response, three of which occurred near the island of Gavdos, south of Crete. The fourth took place off the Peloponnese region in Greece.
In the operation near Gavdos, and specifically in the sea area 12.5 nautical miles southwest of Gavdos, an emergency plan was immediately activated. Two cargo ships Portugal-flagged and Panama-flagged assisted in the operation.
Greek authorities were alerted about the incident on Friday night as the wooden boat approached Gavdos.
Two patrol boats, a rescue boat, a Super Puma helicopter of the Hellenic Air Force, a helicopter of the Hellenic Navy as well as a FRONTEX aircraft, were involved in the rescue operation.
The Portuguese-flagged ship located and rescued thirty-three people and recovered one body. On the other hand, the Panamanian-flagged ship located and picked up five people.
In total, thirty-nine people have been rescued and five bodies have been recovered.
According to conflicting claims by the rescued, a larger number of people were on board, which has not yet been confirmed.
At the same time, throughout the night, three other search and rescue operations were carried out with a total of 164 rescued people. Specifically, 28 people were rescued by a Liberian-flagged cargo ship in the sea area 6 nautical miles southwest of the Cape Tainaron.
Furthermore, 47 people were located and rescued by a Maltese-flagged cargo ship in the sea area 40 nautical miles south of Gavdos.
Finally, 89 people were located and rescued by a British-flagged tanker in the sea area 28 nautical miles south of Gavdos.
