Four die after falling from crowded speedboat off Kos, says Greek coastguard

Four people, including two toddlers, died after falling overboard from an overcrowded speedboat in which they were travelling off the island of Kos, the Greek coastguard has said.

After scouring the seas throughout the night, officials confirmed the fatalities on Wednesday, saying the two children aged between two and four and two women who died had been among a group of 31 people trying to reach Italy from the Turkish coast.

The coastguard said the driver of the power boat made “abrupt and dangerous moves” when a patrol boat crew signalled it to stop. As a result, 10 of the vessel’s passengers fell into the sea.

Of the 27 who survived the incident, five children and a baby were taken to the island’s general hospital where a paediatrician described harrowing scenes administering first aid.

“Things are very unpleasant. We have to be here to help,” Dr Violetta Molenda told a local media outlet. “Today there were two dead babies from the shipwreck … We rescued [another] baby … His body was black. We wrapped the baby up and I fed him with milk and then I put him down. He drank and smiled.”

The drowning, only the latest tragedy to occur off Europe’s coastline, comes as EU leaders prepare to gather on Thursday and Friday for a migration summit at which the European Commission has said it will propose new measures to reduce the number of people making it to Europe.

The commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has called on leaders to explore the idea of “return hubs” outside the EU, citing a controversial deal between Italy and Albania as a possible model.

On Wednesday, 16 men – 10 from Bangladesh and six from Egypt – became the first people to be taken to the Balkan nation as part of Italy’s pact, arriving in the port of Shëngjin.

There has been a rise in Europe-bound asylum seekers reaching Greece’s southern shores, with authorities on Crete reporting a 400% jump in arrivals since 2023.

This month the head of the union of coastguard personnel in the east of the island said officials estimated that about 3,380 “irregular migrants” had reached Crete and the southern isle of Gavdos in 76 separate incidents, compared with 780 arrivals for the whole of 2023.

With the Middle East conflict expanding to Lebanon, the numbers of people trying to reach Europe are expected to rise further, raising fears of more loss of life in the Mediterranean.

On Monday, Athens’ deputy migration minister, Sofia Voultepsi, warned that while war and climate change were increasing global displacement, an EU migration pact agreed earlier this year was so flawed that it had failed “in practical terms” to deal with the issue.

She told a conference in the Greek capital: “We got the [agreement] but the basic piece is still missing: returns. We must have a common system for asylum, a common system for returns, and a common system for integration.”

Migrant solidarity workers said the loss of life was down to the lack of legal pathways Europe offered to desperate people fleeing war and persecution at a time of unprecedented strife and conflict.

“Yet again, the most vulnerable have died in our seas,” said Lefteris Papagiannakis who heads the Greek Council of Refugees, referring to the loss of life off Kos. “And that’s because they are the victims of the continuing policies that ignore the possibility of legal pathways of migration. Conflicts are increasing; the numbers [trying to flee] will only increase.”