그리스 해안에서 13일(현지시간) 난민선이 전복돼 최소 34명이 목숨을 잃었다고 그리스 뉴스통신 ANA가 보도했다.
숨진 난민 중에는 갓난아이 4명과 어린이 11명도 포함돼 있다고 통신은 전했다.
보도에 따르면 난민 130여명을 태운 선박이 그리스 에게해에 있는 파르마코니 시 섬 인근 바다에서 전복됐다.
수색·구조작업에 나선 그리스 해양경비대는 현재까지 파악된 사망자수를 34명 으로 밝혔다.
이외 68명을 바다에서 구조했으며 29명은 헤엄쳐 해안에 이르렀다고 해경은 덧 붙였다.
총 승선 인원이 정확히 몇 명이었는지는 확인되지 않았지만 ANA는 해당 선박이 정원을 초과한 상태였으며 사고 해역의 강풍 탓에 배가 침몰했다고 전했다.
또한 해경은 전날 터키 해안에서 떨어진 그리스의 사모스 섬 인근에서도 난민들 을 태운 선박이 전복돼 4명의 아이들이 실종됐다고 덧붙였다.
국제이주기구(IOM)에 따르면 올들어 지난달 말까지 지중해를 건너서 유럽에 유 입된 난민은 35만 명을 넘어섰다.
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(Yonhap) |
<관련 영문 기사>
Babies and children among 34 dead in Aegean migrant boat sinking
At least 34 people, including 15 babies and children, drowned when their overcrowded boat capsized in high winds off a Greek island on Sunday, the latest migrant tragedy at sea.
The new deaths came as Athens angrily defended its handling of the mounting refugee crisis in Europe and appealed for more help.
Four babies and 11 young children -- six boys and five girls -- were among those on the stricken wooden boat when it sank off the island of Farmakonisi.
Eight of the victims were found by coastguard frogmen in the hold of the boat.
A total of 34 people were found dead, while another 68 were plucked alive from the sea and a further 30 managed to swim to safety on a beach on the island, according to latest coastguard figures.
The exact number of those aboard remains unknown but the ANA said the boat was overcrowded and went down because of high winds in the area.
A Greek navy ship was taking the bodies to Rhodes while the survivors were being transported to Leros.
The coastguard was also still searching on Sunday for four children missing after another boat capsized on Saturday off Samos, a Greek island just off the Turkish coast.
The latest tragedies follow the death of a Syrian toddler whose lifeless body was photographed washed up on a Turkish beach last week, becoming a heartwrenching symbol of the plight of refugees fleeing war.
The International Organisation for Migration has said more than 430,000 migrants and refugees had crossed the Mediterranean to Europe so far in 2015, with 2,748 dying or going missing en route.
Interim Prime Minister Vassiliki Thanou on Sunday branded criticism of Greece, which has been on the frontline of the surge of migrants trying to reach Europe, as “unacceptable”.
“Greece is strictly applying European and international treaties without ignoring the humanity of the situation,” she said on a visit to Lesbos, an island which has been struggling with the massive influx.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday called on Athens, already grappling with a deep economic crisis, to make more effort to protect the EU’s external borders.
“We have a second external border, that’s between Greece and Turkey, where we need protection. And this protection is at the moment not being guaranteed,” she said.
“Greece needs to take its responsibility... we will also speak with Turkey.”
But Greece’s leftist Syriza party, bidding for reelection in next Sunday’s vote, called for external help in dealing with the crisis.
"We should mourn but also act,” it said in a statement, describing the massive influx of refugees as a wider European and global problem.
“Our country is, because of its geographic position, a gateway and it needs support, funds and infrastructure in order to help these desperate people, as it must do.”
Marine Minister Christos Zois also issued a statement to highlight the “daily superhuman struggle” of the Greek costguard to “save thousands of people, victims of human smugglers”. (AFP)
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