At least seventeen deceased foreign men were discovered on Saturday, December 6, in a partially submerged boat located 36 nautical miles southwest of Ierapetra, Crete.
The vessel was first spotted by a Turkish-flagged cargo ship, prompting a large-scale rescue operation involving two Coast Guard patrol boats, a Frontex vessel, three passing ships, a Super Puma helicopter and a Frontex aircraft.
Coast Guard crews rescued two Egyptian nationals from the boat, who were taken to the General Hospital of Ierapetra suffering from hypothermia, starvation and dehydration, the Coast Guard said.
The bodies were transported to the University General Hospital of Heraklion.
The Port Authority of Ierapetra has launched a preliminary investigation and ordered autopsies to be carried out by the Laboratory of Medical Sciences at the University of Crete.
