It was during the night towards Tuesday that the alarm about the distress at sea came. A Maltese cargo ship discovered the distressed boat 20 miles from the Greek coast, at the same location where a ship with several hundred people on board sank last year.
After a large-scale rescue operation, everyone on board could be rescued. They were taken by a cruise ship to the port city of Kalamata on the Greek mainland.
The crossing between Turkey and Greece is a popular route for people fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.
The Greek coast guard received much criticism for not intervening in time when the ship Adriana sank in June 2023. Only 104 people out of approximately 750 on board survived in what is described as the deadliest accident in the Mediterranean.
