NEWS

Coast guard on Crete finds three more bodies

Coast guard workers on Crete on Wednesday recovered another three drowned bodies from the island?s northwestern coast, believed to be members of a group of Bangladeshi nationals that abandoned a ship evacuating them from Libya earlier this month.

This brought to 13 the number of drowned bodies recovered from the island?s coastline since March 6 when a group of 49 Bangladeshis used a rope to clamber down the side of a Cyprus-flagged ship as the vessel was sailing toward Souda Bay.

Of the 49 evacuees that descended into the sea, 35 managed to reach the shore safely and have since been repatriated. Coast guard vessels are still scouring the area around Souda Bay for signs of one more Bangladeshi who remains unaccounted for.

Authorities believe the Bangladeshis, who had all been employed with the South Korean conglomerate Daewoo in Libya, had abandoned the ship evacuating them from Libya to avoid being returned to their homeland.

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