Boat
Greece: 13 dead, others missing in new migrant boat accident
At least 13 people died after a migrant boat capsized in the Aegean Sea late Friday, bringing to at least 27 the combined death toll from three accidents in as many days involving migrant boats in Greek waters.
The sinkings came as smugglers increasingly favor a perilous route from Turkey to Italy, which avoids Greece’s heavily patrolled eastern Aegean islands that for years were at the forefront of the country’s migration crisis.
The coast guard said 62 people were rescued after a sailboat capsized late Friday some 8 kilometers (5 miles) off the island of Paros, in the central Aegean. Survivors told the coast guard that about 80 people had been on the vessel.
Five coast guard patrol boats, nine private vessels, a helicopter and a military transport plane continued the night-time search for more survivors, authorities said, while coast guard divers also participated.
READ: Migrant boat capsizes in English Channel; at least 31 dead
Smugglers based in Turkey increasingly have packed yachts with migrants and refugees and sent them toward Italy.
Earlier, 11 people were confirmed dead after a sailboat Thursday struck a rocky islet some 235 kilometers (145 miles) south of Athens, near the island of Antikythera. The coast guard said Friday that 90 survivors ‒ 52 men, 11 women and 27 children ‒ were rescued after spending hours on the islet.
“People need safe alternatives to these perilous crossings,” the Greek office of the United Nations Refugee Agency, UNHCR, said in a tweet.
In a separate incident Friday, Greek police arrested three people on smuggling charges and detained 92 migrants after a yacht ran aground in the southern Peloponnese region.
And a search operation also continued for a third day in the central Aegean, where a boat carrying migrants sank near the island of Folegandros, killing at least three people. Thirteen others were rescued, and the survivors reported that at least 17 people were missing. Authorities said the passengers originally were from Iraq.
Greece is a popular entry point into the European Union for people fleeing conflict and poverty in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. But arrivals dropped sharply in the last two years after Greece extended a wall at the Turkish border and began intercepting inbound boats carrying migrants and refugees ‒ a tactic criticized by human rights groups.
READ: One drowns, another missing in boat capsize in Chandpur
More than 116,000 asylum-seekers crossed the Mediterranean to reach EU countries this year as of Dec. 19, according to UNHCR. The agency said 55% traveled illegally to Italy, 35% to Spain, and 7% to Greece, with the remainder heading to Malta and Cyprus.
2 people go missing as boat sinks in Buriganga
Two people went missing as a boat sank in the Buriganga River near Kamrangirchar Hujur ghat in Dhaka on Monday.
Those went missing are Shital, 27 and Shafiqul, 7.
Mohammad Raihanul, station officer of Fire Service and Civil Defense Media Cell, said the boat capsized in the river around 9:15 am.
Four people went missing after the accident while the others managed to swim ashore.
Also read: Buriganga boat capsize: 4 more bodies recovered
On information, divers from local fire service rushed to the spot and rescued Rekha, 29 and Sanzida, 8 while Shital and Shafiqul remained missing.
Also read: Buriganga launch capsize: Death toll climbs to 32
The divers are continuing the rescue operation.
3 die as passenger vessel hits bulkhead in Turag
Three persons drowned while four others went missing after a passenger vessel sank in the Turag river off the coast of Savar following a collision with a bulkhead on Saturday.
The identities of the missing could not be known immediately.
Kazi Mazharul Islam, officer-in-charge of Savar Police Station, said the Gabtoli-bound vessel with 15 people on board capsized in the river after hitting the bulkhead off the coast of Savar's Aminbazar on the outskirts of Dhaka this morning.
READ: Trawlers with 24 fishermen capsize in the Bay, one dies
While eight people managed to swim to safety, seven others went missing.
On information, divers from the local fire service station rushed to the spot and launched a rescue operation.
READ: 11 fishers rescued as trawler capsizes in Bay of Bengal
The bodies of two children and a woman were subsequently fished out of the river, said Raihanul, station officer (media) of Fire Service and Civil Defense headquarters.
Boat makers in Shariatpur struggle to keep their craft alive
Thirty families in Chandankar area of Sadar upazila are busy building boats which are widely used for commuting in rural areas during this season.
They have kept the boat-making craft alive through generations as it is a family profession for them.
The village is known as ‘boat village’ to others as the residents here earn their livelihoods by making and selling boats.
Read Lockdown-induced price hike making life in Khulna miserable
During monsoon, the demand for boats goes up as people living in low-lying areas and river banks use boats to get around due to the rise in water level in many rivers and frequent floods.
During a recent visit, this UNB correspondent learned that the boat craftsmen are busy in making boats. People of different ages are involved in making boats.
Some were seen cutting logs, some busy in nailing while some were busy in placing dice.
Read Dhaleshwari erosion takes serious turn in Keraniganj
Talking to the workers, they said they need two days for making a small size boat while it needs three days for a big size boat.
3 killed, 27 hospitalized after boat capsizes off San Diego
Three people were killed and more than two dozen others were hospitalized Sunday after a boat capsized and broke apart in rough water just off the San Diego coast during a suspected human smuggling operation, authorities said.
Lifeguards, the U.S. Coast Guard and other agencies responded around 10 a.m. following reports of an overturned vessel in the waves near the rugged peninsula of Point Loma, according to the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.
The original call was for a handful of people overboard but as rescuers arrived in boats and jet skis they quickly realized “it was going to be a bigger situation with more people,” said San Diego Lifeguard Services Lt. Rick Romero.
Read Also: Search for 9 missing from capsized boat in Gulf on 6th day
“There are people in the water, drowning, getting sucked out the rip current there,” he said.
Seven people were pulled from the waves, including three who drowned, said Romero. One person was rescued from a cliff and 22 others managed to make it to shore on their own, he said.
“Once we arrived on scene, the boat had basically been broken apart,” Romero said. “Conditions were pretty rough: 5 to 6 feet of surf, windy, cold.”
A total of 27 people were transported to hospitals with “a wide variety of injuries” including hypothermia, Romero said. Most of the victims were able to walk themselves to ambulances, he said.
Officials said the group was overcrowded on a 40-foot (12-meter) cabin cruiser that is larger than the typical open-top wooden panga-style boats often used by smugglers to bring people illegally into the U.S. from Mexico.
“Every indication from our perspective was this was a smuggling vessel. We haven’t confirmed their nationality,” said Jeff Stephenson, a supervising agent with U.S. Border Patrol.
Agents were at hospitals preparing to interview survivors, including the boat’s captain who Stephenson described as a “suspected smuggler.” Smugglers typically face federal charges and those being smuggled are usually deported.
Officials said smugglers sometimes use larger more conventional boats to try and blend in with regular maritime traffic.
Read Also: Why are so many babies dying of Covid-19 in Brazil?
San Diego Fire-Rescue Department spokesman Jose Ysea said when he arrived on scene near the Cabrillo National Monument there was a “large debris field” of splintered wood and other items in the choppy waters.
“In that area of Point Loma it’s very rocky. It’s likely the waves just kept pounding the boat, breaking it apart,” he said.
There were life preservers on board, but it wasn’t known how many or whether any passengers were wearing them, officials said.
Among the rescuers was an unnamed Navy sailor who was in the area with his family and jumped in the water to assist someone in an effort described by Romero as a “huge help.”
Officials believed everyone on board was accounted for right away, but crews in boats and aircraft continued to search the area for several hours for other possible survivors, Ysea said.
On Thursday, border officials intercepted a panga-type vessel traveling without navigation lights 11 miles (18 kilometers) off the coast of Point Loma with 21 people on board. The crew took all 15 men and six women into custody. Agents determined all were Mexican citizens with no legal status to enter the U.S., according to a statement released by Customs and Border Protection. Two of the people on the boat, the suspected smugglers, will face charges, it said.
Read Also: Charter bus rollover kills 3, injures 18 outside San Diego
Border Patrol on Friday said law enforcement officials would be ramping up operations to disrupt maritime smuggling off the coast of San Diego this weekend.
As warmer weather comes to San Diego, there is a misperception that it will make illegal crossings safer or easier, the agency said in a statement.
In early March, an SUV packed with migrants collided with a tractor-trailer in the farming community of Holtville, California, about 125 miles (200 kilometers) east of San Diego. The crash killed 13 of 25 people inside 1997 Ford Expedition, including the driver, in one of the deadliest border-related crashes in U.S. history.
Boat craftsmen in Narail struggle for survival
Narail, Oct 14 (UNB) – Twenty-five families, who have kept the boat-making craftsmanship alive for smooth movement in the monsoon, are struggling to keep their heads above water in summer.
Residents of the densely-populated deltaic country face difficulty moving in the rainy season when many roads go under water in low-lying areas. Boats then become an essential tool for commuting, particularly in remote villages.
But boat making is now a dying art. Fortunately, some members of 25 families in Dahar Ramsidhi village in Bashgram union of Narail Sadar upazila have kept the profession of making boats alive for generations.
The people of the area throng the boat market every year ahead of monsoon and buy different types of wooden boats every Wednesday. The artisans display at least 70 to 80 boats every week.