A new maritime tragedy in Greek waters culminated in two separate wrecks leaving 22 people dead and 144 rescued between the islands of Rhodes, Kalymnos and Kalolimnos.
on Friday, the Hellenic Coast Guard and volunteer rescuers pulled 19 dead bodies out of the waters between the islands of Kalolimnos and Kalymnos. Twelve of the dead were children.
At the same time, rescuing crews north of the island of Rhodes found three more dead bodies, two of them children.
The first shipwreck took place on Thursday night, when the coast guard received a message that a wooden boat with a large number of refugees capsized between the island of Kalolimnos and Kalymnos.
Immediately, four coast guard boats, a Frontex boat, a helicopter and three fishing boats started the rescue operation. They rescued 138 people, but also pulled 19 dead out of the water.
A new alarm sounded early Friday morning when the rescue teams received a message of a wreck north of Rhodes. The coast guard found an overturned boat and rescued six people. However, they also found three dead, while survivors said there were three more people on the boat who are missing.
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