No more survivors have been found in a major search and rescue operation on Wednesday for dozens of people believed missing at sea east of the island of Karpathos after a boat reportedly carrying up to 80 migrants towards Italy sank during the night.
The coast guard announced 29 men were rescued 33 nautical miles (38 miles, 61 kilometres) off Karpathos, a southeastern island between Rhodes and Crete.
Two of those rescued were plucked from the sea by an air force helicopter and flown to Karpathos, while the other 27 were picked up by a passing tanker ship and were being taken to the island of Kos.
A massive search operation by port authorities and navy officials and will continue for the next few hours.
The survivors were from Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran, and told authorities there had been roughly 60 to 80 people on board the vessel when it went down, the coast guard said.
Those rescued said the boat had set sail from the Antalya area on the southern Turkish coast and had been heading to Italy when it ran into trouble during the night.
