Greek coast guard patrol boats and a helicopter searched for potential missing people on the eastern Aegean island coast on Wednesday after a collision between a patrol vessel and a migrant-packed speedboat late the previous night left at least 15 people dead.
Twenty-four migrants, including 11 children, were injured and taken to a hospital on the island of Chios after the collision late the previous night. Two coast guard officers were injured, one remaining hospitalized on Wednesday, the coast guard said.
Eleven men and three women bodies were recovered from the sea after the collision, and one woman later died in a hospital, officials said.
It was unclear how many people were on the speedboat. Four patrol boats, two helicopters, and divers began searching the previous night, which continued on Wednesday with a helicopter and five patrol boats.
What exactly happened remained unclear. According to a coast guard statement, one of its patrol boats encountered the speedboat the previous night, heading to Chios without navigation lights. The speedboat refused to stop despite the patrol boat crew's use of sound and visual signals and a change of direction, colliding and capsizing, the statement said.
Photographs released by the coast guard showed abrasions on the right side of the patrol boat. The coast guard report could not be independently verified.
Michalis Yannakos, head of the Greek Public Hospital Workers' Union, said the previous night the staff at the Chios hospital had been alerted to deal with a sudden influx of wounded and dead. Speaking to Greek Open TV, Yannakos said several of the wounded required surgery.
Greece is the main entry point for the European Union for those fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Fatal accidents are common. Many attempt the often perilous short crossing from Turkey's coast to nearby Greek Aegean islands, often in an overcrowded inflatable raft. Others use speedboats operated by smugglers who leave them on the island and then return to Turkey. But increased patrolling and accusations by Greece's government of migration deterrence measures, involving the quick deportation of migrants without asylum applications, have reduced crossing attempts.
Greece, along with several other EU countries, is toughening its migration regulations. In December, the EU overhauled its migration system, including simplifying deportations and increasing detentions.
The debate over migration has been raging among EU member states for years. Since a decade ago, the number of refugees and other migrants heading to Europe has grown, public debate on the issue has shifted, and far-right extremist parties have gained political power. The EU's migration policy has been tightened, and the number of asylum seekers has fallen from record levels.
At least 15 migrants have died after a migrant-packed speedboat collided with a Greek coast guard patrol vessel off the coast of the island of Chios the previous night.
Greece's authorities said the speedboat had made dangerous maneuvers and that a chase was underway in the Chios Strait, near the village of Vrontados, when the collision occurred.
Twenty-four people were rescued, some of whom were seriously injured, while others are likely still missing.
The coast guard has yet to determine the exact circumstances of the collision.
A rescue operation was underway the previous night, involving four coast guard vessels, a private boat with civilian divers, and a helicopter.
Greece's state broadcaster ERT said among the wounded were seven children, a pregnant woman, and two coast guard officers.
