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Migrants on the Mediterranean (archive image)
Photo: Unai Beroiz / Agencia EFE / IMAGO
A serious boat accident has apparently occurred near the Greek holiday island of Santorini.
As reported by the dpa news agency, the Greek coast guard rescued twelve migrants from the Mediterranean on Wednesday night.
Her boat had previously sunk off the Cycladic island of Folegandros.
One man was killed in the incident.
There are numerous people who are still missing, said coast guard spokesman Nikos Kokkalas on Greek state television (ERT).
The search and rescue operation continued on Wednesday.
This involved helicopters, an airplane, several coast guard boats and passing ships, the spokesman said.
The rescued would have given different information about how many people were on board.
"We assume 30 to 50 people and continue the search," added the spokesman for the Coast Guard.
The submerged boat had hardly any rescue equipment.
Most of the people rescued come from Iraq, according to the migrants, it said.
Hundreds of thousands of migrants have tried in recent years by boat from the Turkish mainland to the nearby Greek Aegean islands and thus to the EU.
However, the coast is now heavily monitored, which is why many migrants switch to longer and more dangerous routes.
The Cycladic island of Folegandros is around 200 kilometers from the Turkish mainland.
There is no official information on how many people died on the routes across the Mediterranean.
However, more than 1,500 deaths were reported this year alone.
fek / dpa / Reuters