Greece: Three girls found dead off Chios after migrant boat ran aground

Greek rescuers say they found 14 migrants on a boat off the island of Chios on Wednesday and recovered the bodies of three girls. Later, two additional men were found alive on the island. The boat carrying the migrants hit rocks during its journey.

“A search and rescue operation for foreigners was carried out today (April 10) in the wider maritime area of Kardamyla in Chios by a total of four patrol boats and a helicopter,” states a press release, translated into English, from the Greek coast guard.

During that operation, 14 people, including eight children, were rescued by the Greek coast guard off the rocky coast of Chios island in the eastern Aegean Sea. Two men were found later on the island having managed to reach land after the boat they were traveling on hit rocks off the island, reports the news agency Associated Press (AP).

According to the coast guard, the bodies of three young girls were recovered from the site of the wreckage. Survivors told rescuers there are no others missing from the boat.

The coast guard said the migrants told them the boat had run aground “due to adverse weather conditions.” Both the Greek coast guard and the European border agency Frontex patrol waters in the area of the wreckage.

The Greek authorities believe the migrants set off from Turkey. Of those rescued, stated the coast guard, seven were sent to the General Hospital on Chios for “first aid.” The bodies of the three girls found dead were also transported to the hospital for an autopsy.

According to the Spanish news agency EFE, the girls were aged five, seven and ten years old. Those rescued consisted of two men, four women and eight children, plus the additional two men found on shore.

The central port authority in Chios is now conducting preliminary investigations into the boat arrival and have already arrested a 25-year-old “foreign operator of the boat” suspected of facilitating illegal entry into Greek territory. The Greek authorities say the boat was “completely destroyed.”

Migrants on Chios
According to the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR’s latest arrival data, more than 11,000 migrants reached Greece since the beginning of the year. The figures were last updated on April 7.

In the week from April 1 to April 7, there were 1,165 migrants present on Chios in reception facilities. No arrivals were recorded. Previously, 32 percent of migrant arrivals on Chios came originally from Afghanistan.

Regular weekly departures transport migrants and asylum seekers from Chios to the Greek mainland where there are more facilities to accommodate them. Male migrants make up 48 percent of the migrant population on Chios, with women accounting for 28 percent and children for 24 percent.

Syrian migrants accounted for 20 percent of arrivals according to UNHCR’s data, and nationals from Sierra Leone (10 percent), Somalia (17 percent) and Eritrea (four percent) also make up statistically significant groups. 18 percent of people were registered as coming from a variety of “other” nations.

The reception camp on Chios is termed a “closed controlled access center.”