ATHENS: Greek authorities said Friday they safely evacuated dozens of migrants from a sailboat reported in trouble off the southern coast of Greece, amid a rise in migration to the Mediterranean country.
The coast guard said all the people on board, estimated at up to 70, were transferred to a patrol boat in international waters southwest of the Peloponnese region, and were being taken to the port of Katakolo.
The evacuation followed a large search and rescue operation involving three coast guard patrol and rescue boats, a navy ship, aircraft and four merchant vessels, a coast guard statement said.
It was launched after Greek maritime authorities received an alarm message early Friday reporting a boat in danger some 70 kilometers (40 miles) southwest of the port of Pylos in the Peloponnese.
The coast guard said the migrants’ boat was not letting in water or otherwise in danger, as had been initially reported.
The incident occurred near the site of a maritime tragedy in mid-June that left hundreds of migrants dead or missing after a fishing trawler sank in international waters while traveling from Libya to Italy. Greece was heavily criticized for failing to safely evacuate the ship before it sank.
It was unclear where the yacht had sailed from.
International waters off southwestern Greece are on a route used by smugglers in recent years to carry migrants in overloaded sailboats from Turkiye to Italy. Longer and more dangerous than the short crossing to Greece’s eastern Aegean Sea islands, it’s used in an attempt to bypass Greek coast guard patrols in the Aegean.
Also Friday, the coast guard rescued 22 migrants from a stranded sailboat off the eastern Aegean island of Rhodes.
Greece has seen a rise in migrant arrivals from Turkiye, mostly by sea, in recent weeks amid more clement summer sailing conditions.
Greece safely evacuates dozens of migrants from a sailboat off the southern coast
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Greece safely evacuates dozens of migrants from a sailboat off the southern coast
- People on board were transferred to a patrol boat in international waters southwest of the Peloponnese region
Another construction crane collapse in Thailand kills 2 people a day after deadly train derailment
- A construction crane has collapsed onto an elevated road near Bangkok, a day after another construction accident in northeastern Thailand killed 32 people
NAKHON RATCHASIMA, Thailand: A construction crane collapsed onto an elevated road near Bangkok, killing two people on Thursday, a day after another crane fell on a moving passenger train in northeastern Thailand and killed 32 people.
The work on an extension of the Rama 2 Road expressway — a major artery leading from Bangkok — has become notorious for construction accidents, some of them fatal.
The crane collapsed at part of the road project in Samut Sakhon province, trapping two vehicles in the wreckage, according to the government’s Public Relations Department.
Transport Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said on Thai TV Channel 7 that two people had died. It was unclear if anyone else had been trapped in the wreckage.
There was uncertainty about the number of victims because the site is still considered too dangerous for search teams to enter, said Suchart Tongteng, a rescue worker with the Ruamkatanyu Foundation.
“At this moment, we still can’t say whether another collapse could happen,” he said, citing dangling steel plates. “That’s why there are no rescue personnel inside the scene, only teams conducting on-site safety assessments.”
At the site of Wednesday’s train derailment, the search for survivors ended, Nakhon Ratchasima Gov. Anuphong Suksomnit said. Three passengers listed as missing were presumed to have gotten off the train earlier, but that was still being investigated.
Officials believed 171 people had been aboard the train’s three carriages, which were being removed from the scene Thursday.
The crane that fell, crushing part of the train, was a launching gantry crane, a mobile piece of equipment often used in building elevated roadways.
Police were still collecting evidence and interviewing witnesses and have not pressed charges, provincial Police Chief Narongsak Promta told reporters.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry reported a South Korean man in his late 30s, was among the dead.
The high-speed rail project where the accident occurred is associated with the plan to connect China with Southeast Asia under Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative.
In August 2024, a railway tunnel on the planned route, also in Nakhon Ratchasima, collapsed, killing three workers.
Anan Phonimdaeng, acting governor of the State Railway of Thailand, said the project’s contractor is Italian-Thai Development, with a Chinese company responsible for design and construction supervision.
A statement posted on the website of the company, also known as Italthai, expressed condolences to the victims and said the company would pay compensation to the families of the dead and hospitalization expenses for the injured.
Transport Minister Phiphat said Italthai was also the lead contractor on the highway project where Thursday’s accident took place, though several other companies are also involved.
The rail accident had already sparked outrage because Italthai was also the co-lead contractor for the State Audit Building in Bangkok that collapsed during construction last March during a major earthquake centered in Myanmar. The building’s collapse was the worst quake damage in Thailand and about 100 people were killed.
Twenty-three individuals and companies have been indicted, including Italthai’s president and the local director for the company China Railway No. 10, the project’s joint venture partner. The charges in the case include professional negligence and document forgery, and Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation has recommended more indictments.
The involvement of Chinese companies in both projects has also drawn attention, as has Italthai and Chinese companies’ involvement in the construction of several expressway extensions in and around Bangkok where several accidents, some fatal, have occurred.
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Wednesday the government was aware of the rail accident and had expressed condolences.
