At least 17 children drowned when three boats sank en route from
Turkey to Greece, officials said on Friday, the latest tragedy to strike
migrants braving wintry seas to seek asylum in Europe.
Nine
adults also lost their lives when the boats went down, with the
drownings once again highlighting the human cost as Europe struggles
with its worst migrant crisis since World War II.
Although rescue
officials in Greece and Turkey managed to pull another 157 people from
the water, such drownings have become an almost daily occurrence as
thousands of people brave high seas and wintry weather to make the
crossing on flimsy, overloaded boats.
Fleeing war
Greek
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras expressed "shame" over Europe's failure
to prevent yet another "humanitarian tragedy" and said it was crucial to
prevent the Aegean Sea from becoming a graveyard for people fleeing war
and misery.
Most of the deaths occurred off the Greek islands of
Kalymnos and Rhodes, where 22 people drowned, among them 13 children,
when two boats went down overnight, port officials said on Friday.
In total, 138 people were rescued from the two boats, with the coastguard continuing its search for survivors.
To
the north, an AFP correspondent witnessed another boat foundering off
the island of Lesbos, with a group of desperate people perched on the
roof screaming for help.
Another four young children, all of them
Syrian, drowned when their flimsy boat heading for Lesbos capsized in
bad weather, although the Turkish coastguard rescued 19 other people,
the Dogan news agency reported.
Rescue capacity
The latest deaths came after 17 people drowned off Lesbos and Samos on Wednesday, 11 of them children.
Despite
worsening weather at the onset of winter that has made the already
hazardous sea voyage even more dangerous, a record 48 000 refugees and
migrants arrived in Greece last week, said the International
Organisation for Migration.
With winter gales whipping up at sea,
the UN refugee agency said there was an "urgent need" to strengthen
search and rescue capacity in the area.
Friday, October 30, 2015
17 children die as migrants brave stormy seas
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