At least 16 people died when their boat overturned off the Greek island of Paros in the central Aegean Sea on Friday, in the third maritime disaster involving migrants this week, the country's coastguard said, Trend reports citing Reuters.
Authorities scrambled a search and rescue operation overnight northwest of Paros. Air and sea assets were deployed to the area, the coastguard said.
Eighty people were believed to have been on the vessel, which according to the coastguard was believed to have been headed for Italy from Turkey.
The circumstances under which the vessel capsized were unclear.
Giannis Plakiotakis, Greece's shipping minister, said trafficking gangs were responsible for the disasters.