Greek authorities said a large search and rescue operation is underway on Tuesday for dozens of migrants reported missing after the capsizing of the sailboat they were on, which was overloaded and sank in stormy weather overnight off an island near the Greek capital. This incident is the latest in a series of recent shipwrecks involving migrant boats in Greek waters, which have left dozens dead or missing. The Coast Guard also stated that nine survivors, all men, were found on an uninhabited island south of the island of Euboea, where they were picked up by a Coast Guard vessel in the early hours of Tuesday. The Coast Guard added that none of them were wearing life jackets, while the survivors told authorities that they were on a sailboat carrying about 68 people who departed from Izmir on the Turkish coast, and that the vessel capsized and sank.

Additionally, the Coast Guard said the rescue operation was hampered by particularly harsh weather, with strong winds blowing on Tuesday morning in the area where the boat sank, the Kafireas Strait between the islands of Euboea and Andros, known for its treacherous conditions, where even light winds cause rough waves. The wind strength subsided early in the afternoon, but the ongoing search has not yet identified any other passengers from the sailboat. Also, images of the rescue operation released by the Coast Guard showed a small group of people standing on rocks under a cliff waving for help, and an image posted by the Coast Guard showed survivors wrapped in aluminum foil blankets sitting on the roof of the patrol boat.

Furthermore, the Coast Guard said authorities initially received an alert through a distress call early Tuesday from passengers who said the boat they were on was in distress, but they did not specify its location. A Coast Guard plane and patrol boat, as well as two nearby vessels, participated in the search and rescue operation. A separate search and rescue operation continued on Tuesday afternoon off the coast of the island of Samos in the eastern Aegean Sea, near the Turkish coast, for seven people still missing from an inflatable boat that capsized on Monday and reportedly carried 12 people, with four survivors rescued from this incident on Monday. The Coast Guard said a cargo ship involved in the search and rescue found one body in the area on Tuesday within Greek territorial waters. It added that a Turkish Coast Guard vessel did not participate in the search and rescue and retrieved the body.

In the same context, thousands of people fleeing conflict and poverty in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East attempt to enter the European Union via Greece each year, with most making a short but often perilous journey from the Turkish coast to nearby Greek islands in inflatable boats. Others choose to try to bypass Greece on crowded sailboats and yachts heading directly to Italy. Earlier this month, at least 27 people drowned in separate incidents. In one, 18 people died when a boat sailing from Turkey sank off the island of Lesbos in the eastern Aegean Sea, while another yacht carrying about 100 people sank in a storm, killing at least nine and leaving six missing.

Off the coast of Italy, more than 900 migrants rescued by charity boats in various operations over the past few days waited on crowded vessels on Tuesday in hopes that Italian authorities would allocate disembarkation ports. So far, the new Italian coalition led by the far right adheres to the previous governments’ policy of not immediately allowing migrants to return to shore. Separately, about 280 migrants disembarked on the small Italian island of Lampedusa on Tuesday, while hundreds of others were transferred from chronic asylum seekers’ housing on the island to larger facilities in Sicily or the mainland.