The Greek coast guard said 15 migrants died late Tuesday after their boat collided with a coast guard vessel, capsized and sank off the island of Chios in one of the country's worst shipwrecks in years.
The collision occurred after a migrant boat sailing towards Chios with its navigation lights switched off ignored signals from a coast guard patrol vessel and changed course, the coast guard said in a statement.
The migrant boat capsized and sank due to the severity of the impact, causing all passengers on board to fall into the sea a few miles off the coast of Türkiye, the statement said.
Reuters was unable to independently verify how the collision occurred.
Greek authorities later recovered the bodies of 14 people and rescued 25 others – seven women, seven men and 11 minors – the statement added.
