More migrant casualites off the island of Lesbos

(Vatican Radio) An extensive search was underway on Thursday off the Greek island of Lesbos for at least 34 people missing after their boat sank.

More than 500,000 refugees and migrants have entered Greece through its outlying islands since January, travelling on to central and northern Europe in what has become the biggest humanitarian crisis on the continent in two decades.

Listen to the report by John Carr: 

Greek patrol boats and helicopters today continued the search for at least 30 Middle Eastern migrants missing near the island of Lesbos after their overcrowded and flimsy boat capsized in the cold and rough waters.

The Greek Coast Guard said they recovered 15 bodies from the sea yesterday and today, 10 of whom are children.  More than 240 boat people were rescued, but up to 35 could still be missing.  More drownings were reported near the Greek island of Samos off the Turkish coast.

Despite the stormy weather in the Aegean Sea, the migrant wave from the Turkish coast has reached record proportions.  This year so far well over half a million migrants and refugees have poured into Greece from the islands, with the total per week numbering in the several thousand.

The Greek government has been standing helplessly by, apparently unable to think of what to do except join in European expressions of concern.  Earlier this month Greece turned down the idea of joint Greek-Turkish naval patrols along the maritime boundaries on strategic grounds. 
 
This means there is still no effective checkpoint at Greece’s island frontiers.  Meanwhile, communities on Lesbos are running out of burial space for the almost daily quota of victims, with no apparent end in sight.