At least 15 migrants drown off Greek island

Greece’s coastguard says at least 15 people including children have died in a suspected migrant boat sinking off the Aegean island of Lesbos.

Eight of the bodies were recovered in Greek waters while the Turkish coastguard found another seven bodies, a Greek coastguard spokeswoman tells AFP.

Two women, one of them pregnant, were recovered alive.

“According to the pregnant woman, there were 25 people on board the boat that sank,” the coastguard spokeswoman says.

The dead apparently include nine men, four women and two children, she said.

Greek authorities had received no distress call prior to finding the bodies, the coastguard spokeswoman says.

Several vessels are continuing the search. Weather conditions in the area are mild.

Greece’s Aegean Sea islands are a primary transit point for refugees and migrants seeking to reach Europe from Turkey.

Over a million people have landed in Greece since 2015, many of them fleeing civil war in Syria.

— AFP