Three dead, one missing as boat capsizes at Lesvos

Barely three days after a shipwreck in which three people were declared missing occured off Rhodes, another tragedy occured today, January 10, 2024 on the shores of Lesvos.

Three people were reported dead in the incident with one person said to be missing.

Aegean Boat Report described the incident as yet another tragedy in the Aegean Sea, “this time on the shores of Lesvos, 32 people made it to land on their own, 3 found dead and one person is believed to be missing. This happens only three days after the shipwreck outside Rhodes, where 3 people are missing, believed to be dead.

“In bad weather the boat sat out from Turkey carrying 36 people, according to survivors. North winds of 9 Beaufort and freezing temperatures in the area, to try to cross the Aegean under these conditions, in overloaded fragile rubber boats, is madness.

“The boat landed north of Agios Georgios beach, in Thermi, Lesvos north east around 3 am. According to survivors the boat hit the rocks on the way in, several people fell into the sea, not everyone made it to land.

The survivors, all reported to be of African descent, from Sudan and Ethiopia, was scattered in the surrounding area, 32 was later located on land, two bodies was picked up from the sea. while a third body was reported to have been located but not retrieved due to its difficult location on the rocky shoreline. The two bodies retrieved, a male and a female, reported to be under 30 years of age, are both of African descent.

“A pregnant woman, who had arrived in this area, contracted Aegean Boat Report after first light this morning and asked for help. She was hiding in the woods together with another person north of Agios Georgios, she reported to be wet and cold, and had arrived together with over 30 other people, she didn’t report of any shipwreck or people being lost at sea.

In pictures and videos released by Stonisi, we can see a rubber boat without an engine attached, and three masked men in civilian clothes on the scene of the shipwreck. Similar men in masks have been been caught on camera multiple times when people are being brutally pushed back at sea by people in boats from the Greek Coast Guard, and even in The New York Times article on the “famous” pushback from land on Lesvos last year.

Search and rescue continues in the area, at sea and land, to try to locate the person believed to be missing, it’s unknown if this person made it to land and is hiding in the area, or is missing at sea.

This is the first shipwreck of Lesvos this year, but there will be more in the time to come, more vulnerable people will be lost in the Aegean Sea, men, women and children will not find safety in Europe, only a wet grave, due to hostile and illegal border management.

Greek authorities inhumane “border management”, with support from EU and Frontex, promoting intolerance, torture, kidnapping, killings and illegal violent pushbacks, will only lead to more deaths of vulnerable people seeking safety in Europe in the time to come.

#StopBorderCrimes