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Greece: Gales stall efforts to find missing migrants

Associated Press

Tags: Government, politics
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Migrants, most of them from Afghanistan, rest at an old school used as a temporary shelter on the island of Kythira, southern Greece, Friday, Oct. 7, 2022. Strong winds were hampering rescue efforts at two Greek islands Friday for at least 10 migrants believed to be missing after shipwrecks left more than 20 people dead, officials said. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
An injured Afghan stands on the stairs of an old school used as a temporary shelter on the island of Kythira, southern Greece, Friday, Oct. 7, 2022. Strong winds were hampering rescue efforts at two Greek islands Friday for at least 10 migrants believed to be missing after shipwrecks left more than 20 people dead, officials said. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Migrants from Afghanistan rest at an old school used as a temporary shelter on the island of Kythira, southern Greece, Friday, Oct. 7, 2022. Strong winds were hampering rescue efforts at two Greek islands Friday for at least 10 migrants believed to be missing after shipwrecks left more than 20 people dead, officials said. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Migrants from Afghanistan rest at an old school used as a temporary shelter on the island of Kythira, southern Greece, Friday, Oct. 7, 2022. Strong winds were hampering rescue efforts at two Greek islands Friday for at least 10 migrants believed to be missing after shipwrecks left more than 20 people dead, officials said. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis speaks with the media as he arrives for an EU Summit at Prague Castle in Prague, Czech Republic, Friday, Oct 7, 2022. European Union leaders converged on Prague Castle Friday to try to bridge significant differences over a natural gas price cap as winter approaches and Russia's war on Ukraine fuels a major energy crisis. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
Greece's Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis arrives for an EU Summit at Prague Castle in Prague, Czech Republic, Friday, Oct 7, 2022. European Union leaders converged on Prague Castle Friday to try to bridge significant differences over a natural gas price cap as winter approaches and Russia's war on Ukraine fuels a major energy crisis. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)
An Afghan covered with a blanket, speaks with other migrants at an old school used as a temporary shelter on the island of Kythira, southern Greece, Friday, Oct. 7, 2022. Strong winds were hampering rescue efforts at two Greek islands Friday for at least 10 migrants believed to be missing after shipwrecks left more than 20 people dead, officials said. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Migrants from Afghanistan gather at an old school used as a temporary shelter on the island of Kythira, southern Greece, Friday, Oct. 7, 2022. Strong winds were hampering rescue efforts at two Greek islands Friday for at least 10 migrants believed to be missing after shipwrecks left more than 20 people dead, officials said. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
A volunteer adjusts the supplies for the migrants at an old school used as a temporary shelter on the island of Kythira, southern Greece, Friday, Oct. 7, 2022. Strong winds were hampering rescue efforts at two Greek islands Friday for at least 10 migrants believed to be missing after shipwrecks left more than 20 people dead, officials said. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
The bodies of migrants from a shipwreck are seen several days after in a rocky cove on the island of Kythira, southern Greece, Friday, Oct. 7, 2022. Officials say strong winds are hampering efforts around two Greek islands to search for at least 10 migrants believed to be missing after shipwrecks left 23 people dead. A dinghy and a sailboat sank in two separate incidents off the islands of Lesbos, near the coast of Turkey, and Kythira, south of the Greek mainland. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
The bodies of migrants from a shipwreck are seen several days after in a rocky cove on the island of Kythira, southern Greece, Friday, Oct. 7, 2022. Officials say strong winds are hampering efforts around two Greek islands to search for at least 10 migrants believed to be missing after shipwrecks left 23 people dead. A dinghy and a sailboat sank in two separate incidents off the islands of Lesbos, near the coast of Turkey, and Kythira, south of the Greek mainland. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Migrants from Afghanistan gather at an old school used as a temporary shelter on the island of Kythira, southern Greece, Friday, Oct. 7, 2022. Strong winds were hampering rescue efforts at two Greek islands Friday for at least 10 migrants believed to be missing after shipwrecks left more than 20 people dead, officials said. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Migrants from Afghanistan gather at an old school used as a temporary shelter on the island of Kythira, southern Greece, Friday, Oct. 7, 2022. Strong winds were hampering rescue efforts at two Greek islands Friday for at least 10 migrants believed to be missing after shipwrecks left more than 20 people dead, officials said. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

Migrants, most of them from Afghanistan, rest at an old school used as a temporary shelter on the island of Kythira, southern Greece, Friday, Oct. 7, 2022. Strong winds were hampering rescue efforts at two Greek islands Friday for at least 10 migrants believed to be missing after shipwrecks left more than 20 people dead, officials said. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

KYTHIRA – Strong winds hampered efforts around two Greek islands Friday to find at least 10 migrants believed to be missing at sea after shipwrecks left at least 23 people dead, officials said.

A dinghy and a sailboat sank in two separate incidents late Wednesday and early Thursday off the islands of Lesbos, near the coast of Turkey, and Kythira, south of the Greek mainland — prompting a dramatic nighttime rescue, with survivors hauled to safety up cliffs.

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Coast guard, navy and volunteer rescuers focused efforts around a rugged cove on Kythira where the sailboat smashed into rocks and broke up, leaving bodies floating in the wreckage on Thursday.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who was in Prague for a meeting of European leaders, blamed Turkey for failing to stop boats crammed with migrants from leaving its coastline.

“Once again, I call on Turkey to cooperate with Greece to stop these ruthless networks of traffickers of people in distress so no more lives are needlessly lost in the Aegean Sea,” Mitsotakis told reporters at the start of the meet in the Czech capital.

“The root of this problem is the boats leaving the Turkish coastline,” he said. “And there is no doubt that Turkey, if it wants to, can do more to tackle this problem.”

Turkey maintains that Greece puts migrants' lives at risk with reckless interceptions of boats at sea.

The International Organization for Migration, a United Nations agency, says that before the latest incidents off Lesbos and Kythira, it had recorded 237 people as dead or missing while attempting to cross the eastern Mediterranean Sea route so far this year, out of a total of 1,522 migrants dead or missing in the Mediterranean.

"We have witnessed another two tragedies in the Mediterranean. People desperate for safety and better lives are risking everything in fatal journeys,” Gianluca Rocco, head of the IOM mission in Greece, said.

“This reiterates the need to intensify international cooperation to save lives and improve rights-based pathways for safe and regular migration.”

Several hundred people joined a demonstration in the main port of Lesbos, Mytilene, late Thursday, calling on authorities in Greece and Turkey to cooperate to save lives in the eastern Aegean Sea.

Wreaths of flowers were thrown into the sea to honor the victims who died off the Lesbos coast — 16 women, a boy and an adult man, most believed to be from Somalia.

___ Follow AP's coverage of global migration: https://apnews.com/hub/migration

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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