Overview
- A speedboat carrying migrants from Turkey struck a Greek coast guard vessel, overturned and sank about 3.5 nautical miles south of Agrilia, Lesvos, leaving six people dead and several injured.
- Rescuers recovered the bodies of four men, one woman and an infant, and eight survivors were taken to hospital for treatment.
- Authorities arrested a 37-year-old Turkish national among the survivors and identified him as the suspected smuggler and operator of the boat.
- Greece’s shipping minister said preliminary evidence indicates the speedboat hit the left side of the coast guard vessel with its bow and said the circumstances are under formal investigation.
- The incident highlights recurring dangers of Aegean crossings and Greece’s role as a gateway to Europe, a dynamic that could prompt stepped-up policing of smuggling networks and renewed political focus on island rescue capacity.