75 migrants rescued off Greece

By AFP
August 07, 2024
An undated handout photo provided by the Hellenic Coast Guard shows migrants onboard a boat during a rescue operation, before their boat capsized on the open sea, off Greece, June 14, 2023. — Reuters
An undated handout photo provided by the Hellenic Coast Guard shows migrants onboard a boat during a rescue operation, before their boat capsized on the open sea, off Greece, June 14, 2023. — Reuters

ATHENS: The Greek coastguard on Tuesday said it had rescued 75 migrants in an area where one of the Mediterranean´s worst migrant shipwrecks occurred last year.

They were on board a sailboat southwest of the Peloponnese coastal town of Pylos and will be taken to the port of Kalamata, the coastguard said, without mentioning the nationalities or port of origin.

In June 2023, a rusty and overloaded trawler sailing out of Tobruk in Libya believed to be carrying more than 750 people sank southwest of Pylos.

There were 104 survivors, but more than 600 people are considered to have perished.

Dozens of survivors have filed a criminal complaint against the Greek coastguard, alleging that they took hours to respond despite warnings from EU border agency Frontex and the NGO Alarm Phone.