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Five-year-old girl drowned in yet another accident involving immigrants in the Aegean

19 September 2015 / 17:09:47  GRReporter
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The Aegean tragedy has no end as an increasing number of immigrants find their death in its waters... A five-year old girl died after yet another boat trafficking accident. 11 people were rescued by the Coast Guard this morning in Petalidi, 5 km north of Mytilene.

As Nikos Lagadianos, the Coast Guard press secretary, stressed on SKAI TV, nine adults and one infant have been rescued. Another two – a child and an adult – were shipped to the hospital of Lesbos, where the girl unfortunately died. The ship was carrying a total of 26 people, i.e. 14 people are still missing.

 

According to the testimonies of those rescued, it all started when the engines suddenly stopped for lack of fuel and water started filling up the vessel. "We tried to find some backup fuel. A great deal of water was penetrating the boat, we were trying to scoop it out, but to no avail. When we finally found the fuel stocks, the boat was filled with so much water that it capsized," said Ali Yunnis, one of the rescued, to Era Egeu radio station.

"A doctor from Syria was in the small cabin with her mother and baby. We told them to come out, but they did not because they got scared. They ultimately remained trapped inside, as the boat capsized," said the refugee.

"We all wound up in the water, without cell phones, all our belongings were lost. Two of us swam away to look for help. The Coast Guard found one of us and came up to save us. We had remained in the water for six hours and we appreciate the efforts of the people who rescued us. We had paid 2,800 dollars each for a safer boat rather than an inflatable one. But these guys almost killed us with this boat without fuel, which immediately started filling up with water," said Yunnis.

There are other women and children among those missing. There is an ongoing rescue operation involving the coastguard, various boats, a Super Puma helicopter and a Frontex vessel.

Meanwhile, a boat with 200 people on board was found southwest of Pylos. One of the people has health issues and a navy helicopter transported him to the hospital in Kalamata. This is where the ship is to be escorted to as well.

Tags: refugees Lesbos accident victims
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