17 found dead in migrant vessel off Crete: coastguard

ATHENS: Seventeen men were found dead on Saturday after a migrant vessel was discovered drifting off the Greek island of Crete, a coastguard spokeswoman told AFP.

“Two survivors in critical condition have been hospitalised,” the spokeswoman added.

“Autopsies have to be carried out as the circumstances of the sinking are not known.”

Greek state television channel ERT said the bodies had been found inside the vessel, which was taking on water and partly deflated.

Manolis Frangoulis, the mayor of the Cretan port of Ierapetra, told reporters that all the victims had been young.

“The vessel the migrants were on was deflated on two sides, which forced the passengers into a reduced space,” he added.

Coroners are looking at the possibility that the migrants died of dehydration, ERT reported.

The vessel was found 26 nautical miles (48 kilometres) southwest of Crete, said Greek officials.

A Turkish cargo ship spotted it and alerted the authorities, Greek news agency Ana reported.

Two coastguard vessels and another from the EU’s border agency Frontex travelled to the scene, as did a Frontex aircraft and a Super Puma helicopter, said the coastguard.

They added that the two survivors had said their vessel had become unstable because of bad weather, and they had had no way to cover up nor to eat or drink anything.

Migrants have over the last year turned their attention to the Greek island of Crete, in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, as a way of reaching European Union territory from Libya, in north Africa.

The UN’s refugee agency UNHCR says more than 16,770 people seeking asylum in the EU have arrived there since the start of the year.