A 4-year-old child and a newborn baby were drowned, when a boat carrying migrants and refugees from the Turkish coast to Greece overturned on Friday morning North off the island of Oinousses by Chios in the East Aegean Sea.
The Greek Coast Guard reportedly retrieved the bodies of the two children from the sea. According to boat passengers, there are currently still four people missing.
12 passengers have been rescued. Among them there are five men, three women, three children below 6 and a 12-year-old child.
The 6-meter long capsized boat was spotted by a a vessel at 11 o’ clock Friday morning.
A Search and Rescue Operation is underway with the participation of coast guard vessels, a helicopter of the Greek Navy, a Frontex aircraft and also a Greek ferry boat that was called to assist the operation.
At the time of the incident the weather conditions were fair.
The reasons for the tragedy are unknown, so far.
UPDATE: According to latest information early afternoon Friday, the bodies of three more children and two women, Skai TV reported.
All passengers are Turkish citizens.
They were transferred to the port of Chios and some of them to the hospital.
According to a report by ANT1 TV, the survivors have applied for political asylum. They are highly educated people who fled persecution by the Erdogan regime.
