Fifteen migrants dead off Chios, Greece after boat collision with coast guard

Fifteen migrants died in the Aegean Sea off Greece after their boat collided with a coast guard vessel off the island of Chios, the coast guard said.

A coastguard official said they spotted a dingy transporting migrants towards Chios, which lies a few miles off the coast of Turkey, and ordered them to turn back.

“The smugglers manoeuvred toward the coast guard vessel causing a collision ,” the official told Reuters.

Reuters was unable to independently verify how exactly the collision occurred.