More than 23,150 migrants and refugees have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean since 2014.
At least 16 people are dead, among them an infant, after a boat carrying migrants capsized Friday near the Greek island of Paros – the third deadly incident requiring search-and-rescue operations this week, Greece’s coast guard reported, along a crucial corridor for refugees seeking to enter Europe. Local media outlets reported Saturday that the coast guard had recovered overnight the bodies of 12 men, three women and an infant northwest of the site of the capsizing in the central Aegean Sea, Reuters reported. Athens News Agency reported that 63 people had been rescued and would be temporarily housed on the island of Paros. The agency reported that some 80 people were estimated to have been on the boat, which Greek authorities said they suspected was en route from Turkey to Italy. Greece shipping minister Giannis Plakiotakis, in a statement to Reuters, said trafficking gangs were responsible. The gangs “are indifferent to human life, stacking dozens of people, without life jackets, in vessels which do not conform to the most basic of safety standards,” he said. More than 23,150 migrants and refugees have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean since 2014, according to the United Nations-affiliated Missing Migrants Project. Boats often set out from Libya and Turkey and carry migrants and refugees from Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and elsewhere seeking safety in Europe.
