ATHENS: At least five migrants drowned after their wooden boat capsized off Greece’s southern island of Gavdos, the coastguard said on Saturday, and witnesses said many were still missing as search operations continued.

So far 39 men - most of them from Pakistan - have beenrescued by cargo vessels sailing in the area. They have beentransferred to the island of Crete, the coastguard said, addingthat the number of those missing had not yet been confirmed.

Coastguard boats, merchant vessels, an Italian frigateand naval aircraft have been searching the area since Greekauthorities were alerted about the incident on Friday night.

At least two dead after migrant boat sinks off Greek island

In separate incidents on Saturday, a Malta-flagged cargovessel rescued 47 migrants from a boat sailing about 40 nauticalmiles off Gavdos, while a tanker rescued another 88 migrantssome 28 nautical miles off the tiny island in Greece’s south.

According to initial information, coastguard officialsbelieve the boats left together from Libya.

Greece was a favoured gateway to the European Union for migrants and refugees from the Middle East, Africa and Asia in2015-2016, when nearly 1 million people landed on its islands, mostly via inflatable dinghies.

Incidents with migrant boats and shipwrecks off Crete andits tiny neighbour Gavdos, which are relatively isolated in the central Mediterranean, have increased over the past year.

In 2023, hundreds of migrants drowned when an overcrowded vessel capsized and sank in international waters off the southwestern Greek coastal town of Pylos. It was one of the deadliest boat disasters ever in the Mediterranean Sea.