Greek coast guard rescue migrants in Aegean sea operation

A broad search and rescue operation was extended into Wednesday night a day after a yacht smuggling migrants partially sank in the eastern Aegean Sea, Greece's coast guard said.

A total of 96 people were rescued from the sea 21 nautical miles (31 kilometers, 24 miles) west of the small island of Halki, near Rhodes, the coast guard said.

Footage from the coast guard showed emergency responders plucking migrants, including at least one young child, from the sea and winching them to safety on a helicopter.

Dozens of others were initially picked up by nearby cargo ships and then transferred to coast guard vessels.

The coast guard described the effort as “one of the largest and most successful search and rescue operations (ever) in the Aegean Sea,” noting that it took place mainly at night and that many of those rescued, including several children, had not been wearing life jackets.

Of those rescued, 72 were transported to Rhodes, five to the island of Karpathos and 19 were picked up from a cargo ship by the Turkish coast guard.

Those taken to the Greek islands were being given coronavirus tests and housed in quarantine hotels.

Three of those rescued were arrested as suspected migrant smugglers, the coast guard said.

Authorities were alerted after a passenger on board the yacht made an emergency call late on Tuesday.

They scrambled helicopters, naval and coast guard vessels, and several passing merchant ships also participated in the operation.

Thousands of people have been known to make their way clandestinely to the Greek islands from the nearby Turkish coast, paying smugglers to ferry them in often unseaworthy, overcrowded inflatable dinghies or other vessels.