One drowns, 125 migrants rescued
One man drowned early on Saturday morning as authorities tried to help dozens of illegal immigrants escape from a sinking trawler off the southern coast of Crete, the Merchant Marine Ministry said. Authorities were alerted to the fact that the 15-meter wooden vessel had run aground near Lenta Bay at around 2.30 a.m. on Saturday with 126 migrants on board. The coast guard, police and volunteers rushed to the scene to help the migrants off the boat. During the rescue, one man drowned as he tried to get off the sinking vessel, authorities said, without giving further details. The migrants were given temporary shelter at a grade school in nearby Antiskari. The migrants said they came from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Egypt. An air force helicopter searched the area for other immigrants but did not find any. Meanwhile, a Turkish man was arrested yesterday by border guards in northeastern Greece on suspicion of trafficking three illegal immigrants from Turkey into the country in his car, according to authorities.
