25일(현지시간) 그리스 레스보스섬 해안 에서 난민들을 태운 구명보트가 뒤집혀 어머니와 7살·2살 아이 2명 등 3명이 숨졌 다고 그리스 해안경비대가 밝혔다.
난민선은 거친 파도로 인해 레스보스섬 해안 바위에 부딪힌 뒤 전복됐다고 해안 경비대는 전했다.
구명보트에는 난민 총 63명이 타고 있었으며, 이 중 53명이 구조됐다.
해안경비대는 숨진 3명의 시신을 건져냈으나, 7명은 아직 실종 상태다.
숨진 이들의 국적이나 신원은 아직 확인되지 않았으며, 헬기 2대와 경비선 2척 을 동원해 수색 작업을 계속하고 있다고 해안경비대는 덧붙였다. (연합)
<관련 영문 기사>
Three drown as new migrant boat sinks off Greece: coastguard
At least three migrants -- two children and a woman -- drowned on Sunday when their boat sank off the Greek island of Lesbos, the coastguard said, the latest fatalities in Europe’s refugee crisis.
Around a dozen others, mostly Afghans, are still missing after the rickety vessel, carrying 60 people, went down at dawn as it made the perilous crossing from Turkey, according to the Greek coastguard.
Many of those crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece do not know how to swim and are often equipped with poor-quality life vests, the coastguard said.
A patrol boat and a helicopter operated by European border agency Frontex found the lifeless bodies of the woman and two children.
Another search operation that began last night, aimed at finding a two-year-old Afghan boy who fell into the water somewhere between Turkey and Lesbos, has so far proven fruitless.
Despite worsening weather that has made the journey from Turkey to Greece even more dangerous, a record 48,000 refugees and migrants arrived this week in Greece, most of them in Lesbos, the International Organization for Migration said Friday.
Of more than 600,000 people who have reached Europe’s shores this year in the continent’s worst migration crisis since World War II, some 3,000 have died. (AFP)
