(Vatican Radio) The bodies of seven Asian migrants were recovered in the eastern Aegean
Sea early this morning after a boatful apparently capsized. The boat had been coming
from a Turkish port and sank off the Greek island of Lesvos. The Greek Coast Guard
rescued the rest of the people on board the boat, though two are missing. The circumstances
of how the boat capsized are unclear, as the weather has been calm over the Aegean
Sea over the past few days. The victims are believed to have drowned while trapped
inside the overturned hull. Springtime in Greece generally sees a surge in illegal
migration by boat from Turkey. Sometimes the people-traffickers are captured. Recently
they have been trying to avoid this by throwing their passengers into the sea near
a Greek island, expecting them to swim to safety, while the traffickers themselves
turn back out of harm’s way. Migration from Asia and Africa is becoming a hot-button
issue in crisis-ridden Greece, where unemployment is now at a record 28 percent and
rising. Most migrants head for low-paying farm and construction jobs. The white backlash
here in Greece has fuelled extremist parties such as the far-right Golden Dawn, which
has a record of attacking dark-skinned people.