Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Shipping and Aegean Minister Kostis Mousouroulis expressed on December 17 his profound sorrow over the tragedy in the open sea between the island of Lesvos and Turkey, in which 21 people lost their life when a boat attempting to carry them illegally from the neighbouring country to Greece capsized and sank, on December 15, 2012.
Port officials have recovered the bodies of 21 immigrants from an island beach, while only one castaway aged 20 has been found safe and is receiving hospital treatment. Mousouroulis said that Turkey’s cooperation in the effort to dismantle people-smuggling networks is more imperative than ever, adding that measures of a policing measures cannot effectively deal with the problem, something EU partners need to understand.
