Migrant boat collision

GREEK coastguard patrol boats and a helicopter were searching for potential missing people yesterday off an eastern Aegean island after an overnight collision between a patrol vessel and a speedboat carrying migrants that left at least 15 people dead.

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According to the coastguard, initial information indicated most of those on board the speedboat were from Afghanistan.

Twenty-four migrants, including 11 children, were injured and taken to hospital on the island of Chios following the collision on Tuesday night.

Hospital director Christos Tsiahris told Greek newspaper Proto Thema that three of the injured were in a serious condition and were being treated in the intensive care unit, and 10 children under the age of 15 were in the paediatric ward. Two coastguard officers were also injured, with one remaining in hospital on Wednesday, the coast guard said.