Three children, a woman die after vessel capsizes off Leros

Three children died in hospital at Leros island after being rescued from a remote part of the island on Sunday when the dinghy carrying several migrants capsized.

Earlier reports noted that the bodies of a woman and a child had been collected from the sea off southeast Leros, in the SE Aegean.

According to Port Authorities, two boys and a girl around 5 years old had been hospitalized but did not survive, while the authorities had collected the body of a woman aged around 20 from the sea.

The PA said that a total of 39 people were rescued, including 17 men, 17 women, and 6 children. The 3 that died were among the 6. Two adults remain hospitalized. Most migrants are of African descent, and the dinghy had started off from the Turkish coast. Winds at sea registered 8 on the Beaufort scale, with low visibility and heavy rain.

In statements earlier, Shipping and Island Policy Minister Yiannis Plakiotakis commended the Port Authority and Coast Guard, as well as the Air Force, Hellenic Police, and private residents who helped. "Unfortunately, we have for yet another time innocent victims who lost their lives because of the criminal stance of human traffickers," who he said "start off from Turkey, under the tolerance of Turkish authorities."