Dozens of migrants missing after boat capsizes near Greek island

A rescue operation was launched by the Greek authorities after a boat carrying migrants sank about 60 km southeast of the island of Karpathos in the Mediterranean on Wednesday.

Dozens of people are reported missing after the Greek coastguard rescued 29 people.

Those rescued were from Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran, and told authorities that there had been about 60 to 80 people on board the vessel when it went down.

They said that the boat had set sail from Turkey's southern coastal province of Antalya and was heading for Italy when it ran into trouble during the night.

Earlier in late June, 172 migrants had been rescued in a similar incident in the same area. The rescued, 67 men, 23 women and 82 minors, with the youngest being just one month old, had been transferred to Kos.