ATHENS, Greece (AP) — One migrant died after smugglers piloting a speedboat from Turkey to an Aegean Sea island forced their passengers into the sea on Tuesday to avoid detection by marine patrols, Greek authorities said.
The remaining 30 migrants on the vessel were unhurt, a coast guard statement said.
The statement said the incident occurred off the eastern island of Samos, which is close to the Turkish coast. It said the speedboat was detected after the migrants — including eight children — had been forced overboard. It was stopped following a chase in which coast guard fired warning gunshots that caused no injury.
Two Turkish men on the vessel that had been heading back to Turkey were arrested and charged with migrant smuggling and actions that led to the loss of life.
The statement said 27 people managed to swim ashore to Samos. A search and rescue operation later located three migrants alive in the water and the body of a man. Nobody else was reported missing.
Greece is a major entry point for people from the Middle East, Africa and Asia seeking a better life in Europe. Most enter by sea from nearby Turkey, with the help of smuggling gangs that charge thousands of dollars per person for the passage.
Following increased policing of Greece’s eastern Aegean waters, smugglers have for months been using high-powered speedboats to try to dodge patrols. This has led to a series of confrontations in which speedboats rammed coast guard vessels, and in one case a migrant was fatally shot as coast guards opened fire on a smuggling boat.
Alternatively, smugglers cram dozens of migrants into sailing yachts that try to circumvent patrols by heading through the central Aegean Sea toward Italy.
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