Greek coast guard says a migrant speedboat it was chasing overturned, leaving 2 dead

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A speedboat carrying migrants overturned while it was being chased by the Greek coast guard near the island of Rhodes, leaving a man and a boy dead, the coast guard said Tuesday.

The coast guard vessel was on a regular patrol in the eastern Aegean Sea in the early hours of Tuesday when it came across the speedboat carrying migrants and heading toward Rhodes, the coast guard said.

The patrol vessel signaled for the speedboat to stop, and gave chase when it failed to do so, the coast guard said in a statement. The speedboat then carried out dangerous maneuvers to try to evade the patrol vessel, and ended up capsizing, throwing all those on board into the sea, the coast guard said.

Two patrol boats picked up 16 people – 12 men and four women – from the sea, and recovered the bodies of the man and the boy, the statement said.

The port police in Rhodes arrested three of the survivors – a 30-year-old Azerbaijan national and two Armenian nationals aged 31 and 32 – on suspicion of being migrant smugglers. The three face a series of charges, including causing a shipwreck, negligent homicide and violating immigration laws.

The incident comes a week after four people, including a child, died after a boat carrying migrants sank off the eastern Greek island of Lesbos. Thirty-four people survived and made it to shore themselves, where they were later picked up by police.

Greece is one of the main entry points into the European Union for people fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Many make the short but perilous journey from the Turkish coast to nearby Greek islands in inflatable dinghies or other small boats, often unseaworthy, and fatal sinkings have been common.