ATHENS (Reuters) – Greek authorities have recovered the physique of a person and rescued 39 migrants from the ocean after their boat capsized off the southern island of Gavdos within the Mediterranean, its coastguard mentioned on Saturday.

Many are nonetheless lacking, in line with witnesses, and the coastguard has launched a search operation assisted by vessels and plane since they have been alerted concerning the incident on Friday evening.

In separate incidents on Saturday, a Malta-flagged cargo vessel rescued 47 migrants from a ship crusing about 40 nautical miles off Gavdos, whereas a tanker rescued one other 88 migrants some 28 nautical miles off the tiny island in Greece’s south.

Based on preliminary data, coastguard officers consider the boats left collectively from Libya.

Greece was a favoured gateway to the European Union for migrants and refugees from the Center East, Africa and Asia in 2015-2016, when practically 1 million folks landed on its islands, principally through inflatable dinghies.

Incidents with migrant boats and shipwrecks off Crete and its tiny neighbour Gavdos, that are comparatively remoted within the central Mediterranean, have elevated over the previous 12 months.