Published: 2018-03-17 16:27
Last Updated: 2024-03-28 15:46
Greek coast guard officials said on Saturday that 15 people, including four children, died when the small boat they were travelling on sank in the Aegean Sea.
“At least four more were unaccounted (for),” a coast guard official told Reuters. Three other migrants were rescued by Greece’s Agathonisi Island near the Turkish coast.
“According to the migrants that have been rescued, there were 21 people on the boat, the official added.
This is the highest number of refugee deaths by drowning in months.
Dozens of refugees have already drowned in the Mediterranean Sea over the past few years, as they fled their home countries to escape war and poverty, in hopes of finding a better life in Europe.
Many Syrian, Libyan and Palestinian refugees have travelled from Turkey to Greece by boat, before boarding another boat that promises to take them to other European countries.