24 die in Greek boat tragedy

Athens, January 28

The bodies of 24 migrants, including 10 children, were discovered off the Greek island of Samos today after their boat capsized, the Greek coastguard said.

Eleven people from a dinghy carrying 45 people were still listed as missing following the latest tragedy involving overladen migrant boats crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece.

Ten people were rescued unharmed. Authorities initially said they had found 12 bodies but the number rose quickly as rescuers combed the waters for the missing.

There were "five boys and five girls among the victims, while 10 people were pulled from the water unharmed, but in a state of shock," a coastguard spokeswoman said.

The alert was raised by one of the survivors, who managed to swim to shore. Greek ships and two vessels from the European border agency Frontex took part in the rescue operation.

Last week, 44 people drowned in a single day when three migrant boats ran into trouble in Greek waters. Rescuers yesterday found the bodies of seven drowned migrants after their boat sank off the Greek island of Kos. The latest tragedy comes as Greek authorities are under pressure from their European counterparts to stem the migrant flow. — AFP