A vessel carrying dozens of foreign nationals, by all accounts would-be migrants heading from Turkey to the eastern Aegean island of Lesbos (Lesvos), crashed into the rocks late Monday night to the early Tuesday morning off the island amid rough seas, with two fatalities reported so far and one individual missing.
According to the Hellenic Coast Guard, the remaining group of migrants fled into the interior of the island after reaching the shore.
Local authorities subsequently located 57 foreign nationals in the immediate vicinity of the shipwreck. Two bodies were recovered off the coastline.
The irregular migrants were transferred to an identification facility on the island, while an autopsy will be performed on the two shipwreck victims.
According to one of the survivors, one of the two victims fell into the water during the impact with the rocky outcrops. Search efforts are continuing.
No information was provided on the nationalities, ages and gender of the group of irregular migrants.
Lesbos is a preferred destination of migrant smuggling gangs operating in neighboring Turkey, with third country nationals hailing from as far away as sub-Sahara Africa to Central Asia and south Asia assembled on the western Asia Minor shores for a clandestine and often dangerous attempt to reach Greek territory, and by extension the European Union.
