ATHENS, Feb 3 (Reuters) – Fourteen migrants died on Tuesday in the Aegean Sea off Greece after their boat collided with a coast guard vessel off the island of Chios, the coast guard said.
A coast guard official said they spotted a dirty boat carrying migrants headed for Chios, which is several miles off the Turkish coast, and ordered them to turn back.
“The smugglers maneuvered towards the coast guard vessel and caused a collision,” the official told Reuters.
Reuters was unable to independently verify how exactly the collision occurred. The nationality of the migrants was not clear.
Two coast guard officers were injured and taken to hospital and 24 migrants were rescued, a second official told Reuters. Witnesses said there were about 30-35 people on board, a government official said.
The Coast Guard said a search and rescue was underway with Coast Guard vessels, private boats and divers assisting the operation.
Greece, in the southeastern corner of the European Union, has long been a popular gateway to Europe for migrants and refugees from the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
In 2015-2016, Greece was on the front lines of Europe’s migration crisis, with nearly a million people from Turkey landing on its islands, including Chios.
Arrivals have fallen in recent years and Greece has tightened its stance on migrants. Since 2019, the center-right government has strengthened border controls with fences and maritime patrols.
Greece has come under scrutiny for its handling of migrants and refugees approaching by sea, including one shipwreck in 2023 in which hundreds of migrants died after witnesses said the coast guard tried to pull their trawler away.
The EU’s border agency said last year it was investigating 12 cases of potential human rights abuses by Greece, including some allegations that asylum-seeking migrants were pushed away from Greece’s borders.
Greece denies violating human rights or forcibly returning asylum seekers from its shores.
(Reporting by Lefteris Papadimas, Yannis Souliotis and Renne Maltezou; Editing by Edward McAllister)
