Greek authorities have recovered the bodies of four people from the sea just off the coast of the eastern Aegean island of Rhodes, while another 25 people have been found alive on land after a migrant smuggler allegedly forced his passengers overboard while transferring them from Turkey to Greece, the coast guard said Wednesday.
The bodies of three men and one woman were recovered near the coast on the southern tip of Rhodes early Wednesday, the coast guard said. The group of 25 survivors were found on land, with police originally locating an initial group of 11 people shortly after midnight, and the rest found afterwards.
Survivors told authorities they had been traveling to the Greek island from the nearby Turkish coast by speedboat when the smuggler driving the vessel forced them overboard into the water and left, the coast guard said.
A search and rescue operation in the area was called off Wednesday afternoon once authorities ascertained from survivors that there were no further people missing. The nationalities of the passengers weren’t immediately known.
It was the latest fatal case involving migrants trying to make their way into the European Union using the sea route either from the nearby Turkish coast or across the Mediterranean from North Africa. [APnews]
This misery and suffering will not stop unless the trafficking gangs are taken out. They don’t care about human lives.
There is no way to “take out” human smuggling and trafficking international networks (they are not gangs). Most of the networks employ European police and coastguard officials, who can double their salaries that way. The only solution is to allow legitimate refugees/asylum applicants to enter EU territory, and to pay border guards and police decent salaries so that they are not tempted to participate in criminal activity. And, of course, for EU government to obey the law and treat asylum seekers with respect and due legal process
Of course, this is not going to happen: the EU is obsessed with anti-refugee dogma and at the same time obsessed with cutting the real pay of ordinary workers. Only billionaires and politicians are allowed to have massive pay increases. And let’s let’s not forget the poor banks, which we must support with VAT of 24% in Greece.