Boat With Refugees Sinks Near Greek Kos Island, at Least Seven Dead

Boat with refugees sank not far from the Greek island of Kos in the Aegean Sea, according to local media.

ATHENS (Sputnik) — At least seven people died, including two children, after a boat with refugees sank not far from the Greek island of Kos in the Aegean Sea, local media reported Wednesday.

According to the Athens News Agency, the Greek Coast Guard came across a man, on Wednesday morning, on a Kos island beach who claimed that he had managed to escape from a sinking boat.

The Greek authorities responded by launching a search and rescue operation to find and assist the other victims of the shipwreck. According to the media outlet, one woman was saved by the Turkish Coast Guard.

Earlier in January, two separate shipwrecks in the Aegean Sea left over 40 refugees, including 17 children, dead.

Europe is currently struggling to cope with a massive refugee influx, with millions of refugees fleeing conflict-torn countries of the Middle East and North Africa in search of asylum in stable and wealthy EU states. Most refugees travel from Turkey to the Greek islands before continuing onward into mainland Europe.

According to the International Organization for Migration, 45,361 migrants and refugees have arrived in Greece by sea since the beginning of 2016.