Key Points
Wednesdays (June 14) deadly shipwreck off southern Greece, involving a large boat carrying migrants that capsized after apparently rebuffing offers of help, is just the latest case of smugglers packing vessels full of desperate people willing to risk their lives to reach continental Europe..
Greek coast guard, navy and merchant vessels and aircraft launched a vast search and rescue operation after the overcrowded fishing boat capsized and sank early Wednesday some 75 kilometers (45 miles) southwest of the southern Peloponnese peninsula..
The passengers reported that the captain had abandoned the ship on a small boat before it capsized, Alarm Phone said.. Vincent Cochetel, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees special envoy for the Western and the Central Mediterranean, tweeted that this boat was unseaworthy & no matter what some people on board may have said, the notion of distress cannot be discussed...
Most migrants to Greece cross from Turkey, either reaching the nearby eastern Greek islands in small boats or by crossing the Evros river known as the Meric in Turkey which runs along the land border...
The Eastern Mediterranean route has traditionally been used by Syrian, Iraqi, Afghan and other non-African migrants who go first to Turkey and then try to reach Greece or other European destinations...
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