With Syrian refugees on board, boat capsizes off the coast of Crete Island

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA) - Archive

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The General Directorate of Maritime Affairs of Turkey's Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure has announced that a boat with 45 Syrian refugees on board has capsized southeast of the coast of Greece's Crete Island, which falls within the search and rescue zone of Turkey.

As reported by the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA), the incident was reported to the Main Search and Rescue Coordination Center at 9.10 pm yesterday (July 22). The Center was informed that the boat had capsized.

In the talks with the officials on board a trading vessel from Turkey at the scene of the incident, it was learned that there were around 45 Syrian refugees on board, the boat was 12-15 long and headed for Italy. Running out of fuel, the boat reportedly capsized due to bad weather conditions.

While 31 refugees have been rescued by the vessel from Turkey, five people have been rescued by the helicopters of Greece. The search and rescue efforts for the missing people are still underway with the Naval Forces' 2 frigates, 1 maritime patrol aircraft and 4 trading vessels.

While the Gelibolu and Gökova frigates have been referred to the scene of the incident, the search and rescue efforts led by the Gelibolu frigate are ongoing in an area of 20 nautical miles (NM) radius around the coordinates of the incident as the center. (RT/SD)