12 migrants found dead, 21 rescued after their boat sinks off Greece’s coast

Greece’s coast guard said 12 migrants were found dead in the Ionian Sea and 21 others were rescued after their boat took on water and sank. Searchers were looking for more survivors.

The deaths and sea rescues came southwest of the Greek island of Paxos, a coast guard representative told the Associated Press.

“The initial report is that 50 people were in the boat,” he said.

The coast guard said someone on the boat had called the 112 emergency number at 9:15 a.m. Saturday. At least four merchant ships, six coast guard ships and a helicopter were searching for survivors amid calm seas.

No further information about the migrants was released.

In other incidents involving Europe-bound migrants, authorities in North Macedonia reported Saturday that 62 migrants were discovered hiding inside freight trains at the border with Greece.

Border control teams that included officers from North Macedonia, Austria and the Czech Republic found 42 migrants during a routine inspection of a freight train in the town of Gevgelija on Friday. Thirty-eight of the migrants were from Morocco, police said.

Later Friday, another multinational team of officers discovered 20 migrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Morocco and Algeria in another freight train at the Gevgelija station.

All 62 migrants, including five minors, were taken to a detention center pending deportation to Greece.