Greece: Gales stall efforts to find missing migrants

7/10/2022 18:31

        Strong winds were hampering efforts around two Greek islands Friday to find at least 10 migrants believed to be missing after shipwrecks left 23 people dead.
        
        A dinghy and a sailboat sank in two separate incidents late Wednesday and early Thursday off the islands of Lesbos, near the coast of Turkey, and Kythira, south of the Greek mainland — prompting a dramatic nighttime rescue, with survivors hauled to safety up cliffs.
        
        Coast guard, navy and volunteer rescuers focused efforts around a rugged cove on Kythira where the sailboat smashed into rocks and broke up, leaving bodies floating in the wreckage on Thursday.
        
        Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who was attending a meeting of European leaders in the Czech capital, Prague, blamed neighbor Turkey for failing to stop boats crammed with migrants from leaving its coastline.