More than 100 migrants have been rescued off the island of Mykonos in the Aegean Sea and four are missing, the Greek coastguard said.
"A large-scale rescue operation of migrants is under way from late Saturday two miles south of the island of Delos.
"So far 108 migrants have been rescued, while according to those rescued, four people are missing," a coastguard statement said.
Among the rescued were 24 women and 21 children and three people have been taken to a health centre nearby.
Port police responded to a distress call sending three boats and a tugboat to help the stricken vessel which came from Turkey, the coastguard said.
The tugboat reached the sailing boat carrying the migrants but did not pull it to safety, because it was taking on water and there were high winds.
The migrants were initially taken to a rocky islet nearby and were transported to Mykonos, while search and rescue efforts continue.
Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi called on Turkey to do more to protect people and eradicate smuggling networks.
8 migrants missing & 104 rescued in Cyclades from a sailing boat that left Turkish shores for Europe. 🇹🇷 can do a better job, working with 🇪🇺 & 🇬🇷 to protect human lives & eradicate smuggling networks, in line with international law and the 🇹🇷🇪🇺 2016 statement @suleymansoylu pic.twitter.com/bJ2p4jDUmP
— Νότης Μηταράκης - Notis Mitarachi (@nmitarakis) June 19, 2022
In May, Greek authorities said they had prevented around 600 migrants from crossing the Aegean Sea from neighbouring Turkey in one day, in the largest attempted entry this year.
A migration ministry source had said migration flows to the Greek islands in the first four months of 2022 were nearly 30% higher than in the same period last year.
