22 Mayıs 2013, Çarşamba
New York
New York

EVACUEES FROM LIBYA DROWN IN GREEK WATERS

  • NewArticle
  • Published:07 Mart 2011, Pazartesi
  • Updated:07 Mart 2011, Pazartesi

At least three i evacuees from insurrection-hit died in Greek waters while trying to swim to shore from a ship already moored in port, the Greek coastguard said on Sunday.

The incident happened in Souda port on the island of . Two of the victims drowned while the third died from hypothermia. A further 16 people were missing.

About 50 evacuees used a rope to descend from the ship which had already moored at the port to enter Greece illegally, the Civil Protection ministry said in a statement.

The victims, all from , probably tried to avoid being sent back to their home country, according to a coastguard official.

A total of 29 people were hospitalized. Divers were searching the Souda harbor for the missing. A coastguard official said, however, that they might have made it to the shore, escaping inland.

The "Ionian King," a ferry, was carrying a total of 1,288 evacuees from Tripoli, most of them Bangladeshis.

The unrest has heightened worries about a wave of illegal immigration into Europe. Thousands of workers from countries such as Vietnam and China have been evacuated from , many of them on Greek ships.