ATHENS: At least five migrants drowned after their wooden boat capsized off Greece’s southern island of Gavdos, the coast guard said on Saturday, and witnesses said many were still missing as search operations continued.
So far 39 men — most of them from Pakistan — have been rescued by cargo vessels sailing in the area. They have been transferred to the island of Crete, the coast guard said, adding that the number of those missing had not yet been confirmed.
Coast Guard boats, merchant vessels, an Italian frigate and naval aircraft have been searching the area since Greek authorities were alerted about the incident on Friday night.
In separate incidents on Saturday, a Malta-flagged cargo vessel rescued 47 migrants from a boat sailing about 40 nautical miles off Gavdos, while a tanker rescued another 88 migrants some 28 nautical miles off the tiny island in Greece’s south.
According to initial information, coast guard officials believe the boats left together from Libya.
Greece was a favored gateway to the European Union for migrants and refugees from the Middle East, Africa and Asia in 2015-2016, when nearly 1 million people landed on its islands, mostly via inflatable dinghies.
Incidents with migrant boats and shipwrecks off Crete and its tiny neighbor Gavdos, which are relatively isolated in the central Mediterranean, have increased over the past year.
In 2023, hundreds of migrants drowned when an overcrowded vessel capsized and sank in international waters off the southwestern Greek coastal town of Pylos. It was one of the deadliest boat disasters ever in the Mediterranean Sea.
Five die after migrant boat capsizes off Greek island, many feared missing
https://arab.news/chuhe
Five die after migrant boat capsizes off Greek island, many feared missing
- So far 39 men — most of them from Pakistan — have been rescued by cargo vessels sailing in the area
- They have been transferred to the island of Crete, the coast guard said
Trump tells Britain he does not need its help to win Iran war
- Rejects deployment of UK aircraft carriers to help the US and Israel in their war with Iran
- Trump was reacting to reports that the UK was preparing the Prince of Wales aircraft carrier for possible deployment
Trump was reacting to reports that the UK was preparing the Prince of Wales aircraft carrier for possible deployment
DOVER, US: President Donald Trump said on Saturday that Britain is giving “serious thought” to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East, but added that the US does not need them to win the war with Iran, in the latest clash between the military allies.
“The United Kingdom, our once Great Ally, maybe the Greatest of them all, is finally giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East,”
Trump said. "That’s OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need them any longer,” Trump posted to his Truth Social account.
“But we will remember,” he said. “We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!“
Trump posted the message shortly after attending the return of the first six US service members killed in the Middle East war, at Dover Airforce Base in the northeastern state of Delaware.
British media reports say the Royal Navy is preparing the HMS Prince Wales, an aircraft carrier currently at Portsmouth in southern England, for possible deployment to the Middle East, but no final decision had been made.
Trump has said he is “not happy with the UK,” mocking Starmer by saying “this is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with.”
The social media post comes after the British Ministry of Defense said on Saturday it was preparing the Prince of Wales aircraft carrier for possible deployment.
But no final decision has been taken about whether to deploy the aircraft carrier to the Middle East, a British official said.
Starmer has defended his decision not to allow US forces to use British bases to support initial strikes on Iran, saying he needed to be satisfied that any military action was legal and well planned.
He later granted US forces permission to use British bases for what he called defensive strikes against Iranian missiles in storage depots or launchers.
Starmer earlier this year criticized Trump’s desire to buy Greenland and said his comments that European troops avoided frontline combat in the war in Afghanistan were “frankly appalling.”
