A total of 113 illegal migrants from Afghanistan were rescued while another three were reported as missing in the first hours of Tuesday from a wooden boat in distress a few nautical miles west of the Ionian island of Paxi.
According to the Corfu port authority, it received a call from the Corfu police late Monday night about a foreign national who had phoned the police emergency line saying he was on a boat that was taking on water, with an unknown number of other migrants.
The Harbor Corps' Search and Rescue Center-Coastguard was immediately alerted as well as the nearby port authorities, and an operation was immediately launched after the wider area after the telephone call from the migrant was pinpointed as coming from the sea area southwest of Corfu, the announcement said.
Three Coastguard patrol boats, a Super Puma all-weather helicopter and an airforce C-130 aircraft, the tugboat 'Thyella', the sea taxi 'Lakka Paxi' and vessels sailing nearby were moblised in the search for the distressed boat, which was later spotted by the Malta-flag freighter 'Alexandra'.
The freighter picked up 113 migrants from the wooden boat, who told authorities that three more people were missing.
The rescued migrants were taken to port in Corfu, where they were reported to be in good condition, while the search and rescue operation was continuing on Tuesday for the three missing migrants.
source: ANA-MPA
