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Greece says 22 die in migrant boat sinkings in Aegean Sea

Two women hug each other as a boy cries after their arrival from the Turkish coast to the Greek island of Lesbos, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015. Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II is entering a perilous and uncharted phase, as the usual pattern of migrant season ending by autumn is overturned by intensifying fighting in Syria and overcrowding in refugee centers in Turkey and Lebanon. (AP Photo/Santi Palacios)
Two women hug each other as a boy cries after their arrival from the Turkish coast to the Greek island of Lesbos, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015. Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II is entering a perilous and uncharted phase, as the usual pattern of migrant season ending by autumn is overturned by intensifying fighting in Syria and overcrowding in refugee centers in Turkey and Lebanon. (AP Photo/Santi Palacios) Two women hug each other as a boy cries after their arrival from the Turkish coast to the Greek island of Lesbos, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015. Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II is entering a perilous and uncharted phase, as the usual pattern of migrant season ending by autumn is overturned by intensifying fighting in Syria and overcrowding in refugee centers in Turkey and Lebanon. (AP Photo/Santi Palacios)

By Associated Press 2 min read

LESBOS, Greece (AP) – At least 22 people drowned in two new shipwrecks in the Aegean Sea Friday as thousands of Middle Eastern refugees and economic migrants sought to reach the Greek islands in rough seas, while the death toll over the past three days has reached nearly 50.

The Merchant Marine Ministry said 19 people were killed and 138 were rescued near the eastern island of Kalymnos, in one of the worst accidents in Greek waters since the mass migrant flows started after the war in Syria.

Four coast guard patrol vessels, a helicopter and three fishing boats helped rescue the survivors, and nobody was listed as missing, the ministry said. The accident occurred shortly before midnight Thursday, when the wooden boat in which the migrants had left from Turkey took on water and sank in moderately strong winds.

At least three more people died when another migrant boat sunk off the nearby island of Rhodes. Three people are still missing, while six were saved.

Meanwhile, authorities on Friday raised to 16 the number of deaths from another migrant ship disaster off the island of Lesbos on Wednesday. They said 274 people have been rescued in total, while one more migrant remains listed as missing.