Greeks Save Ship With 275 Migrants
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: November 12, 2007
ATHENS, Nov. 11 The Greek coast guard on Sunday rescued 275 people believed to be illegal migrants crammed on a Turkish cargo ship that nearly capsized in rough seas southwest of the Greek coast, a Greek coast guard spokeswoman said.
The people on the ship, including dozens of women and children from Iraq, had been traveling for 13 days, en route to Italy, when the captain of the vessel issued a distress signal that sent two Greek coast guard frigates and a tugboat to their rescue in the Ionian Sea, said the spokeswoman, Aspa Popadopoulou.
The captain, who is Turkish, and his 14-member crew were arrested by Greek authorities, and they are facing charges linked to human smuggling. The Greek news media reported that some of the immigrants said they had paid $2,000 each for their passage to Italy and $1,000 for each child.
