At least eight migrants drown after boat collides off Greece’s coast news

Authorities say at least eight people died when the driver lost control of the boat while trying to escape.

At least eight refugees and migrants drowned off the coast of Greece after coast guards chased the boat they were on in the Aegean Sea.

A speedboat capsized while attempting to escape from a Greek patrol vessel near the island of Rhodes, and 18 people were rescued, officials said Friday.

A Coast Guard statement said the driver lost control of the boat, causing several passengers to fall overboard.

Coast guard ships recovered eight bodies, while a Hellenic Air Force helicopter searched for survivors. It is not clear how many people were on board the plane.

Greek authorities said they detected the ship as it was attempting to disembark people near Afandou beach on the east coast of the Greek island of Rhodes.

Greek media outlet Kathimerini reported that the boat collided with a coast guard vessel during the pursuit, and said that the driver of the boat had been arrested.

Greece has seen a 25 percent increase in the number of migrants and refugees this year, while Rhodes and the southeast Aegean have seen a 30 percent increase, according to the Migration and Asylum Ministry.

In late November, nine people, including six minors and two women, died when two boats capsized in separate incidents near the islands of Samos and Lesbos.

Another five people died by drowning near the island of Crete earlier this month.

Greece has been accused of adopting an increasingly hostile approach towards migration in recent years. Its coast guard has been repeatedly accused by asylum seekers and humanitarian organizations of overturning boats by towing them or trying to prevent them from landing on their shores.

The EU also found evidence of human rights abuses in recently constructed, EU-funded refugee camps on the Greek Aegean islands, including allegations of sexual and other violence against children.