At least 15 dead after migrant speedboat and Greek coastguard vessel collide

A collision between a speedboat carrying migrants and a Greek coastguard patrol vessel off the eastern Aegean island of Chios has killed at least 15 people, the coastguard said late on Tuesday, while a search and rescue operation involving patrol boats, a helicopter and divers was under way for potentially missing people.

The bodies of 14 people – 11 men and three women – were recovered from the sea, the coastguard said, while another 25 migrants, including about 11 children, were rescued and transported to a hospital on Chios, as were two coastguard officers who were injured in the incident.

One of the injured women later died in hospital, the coastguard added, bringing the total death toll to at least 15.

The total number of people who had been on board the speedboat was not immediately clear, and a search and rescue operation involving four patrol vessels, an air force helicopter and a private boat carrying divers was under way for potentially missing passengers.

Video footage by a local news site showed at least one person being carried in a blanket from a boat moored on the side of a jetty into a waiting coastguard vehicle with blue flashing lights, as others appeared to lead two children, one of them limping, towards the car.

The coastguard did not immediately have further information on exactly how the collision occurred.