Lesvos: 18 Migrants Found Dead, 9 Missing

Coast guard police has found the bodies of 18 immigrants who were trying to enter Greece from the Aegean.

Their boat capsized early Friday.

A 20-year-old man found alive Friday told authorities there were 28 people on the crowded boat, including its Turkish owner, when it capsized off the northeastern island of Lesvos, near the Turkish coast. The man, who has been hospitalized, is the sole survivor found so far.

A coast guard spokeswoman said the migrants were “of Asian origin” without specifying further.

Last September, in a similar shipwreck in the Aegean, 60 immigrants died, amongst them 31 children…

Reuters: Tortured, detained and ordered out: a migrant’s tale in Greece

Source: http://www.reuters.com/

By Renee Maltezou and Deepa Babington

SALAMINA, Greece | Thu Dec 6, 2012 11:57am EST

(Reuters) – Egyptian immigrant Waleed Taleb says demanding his unpaid wages in Greece came at a heavy price; 18 hours chained and beaten by his boss, a stint in jail and orders to leave the country he calls home.

One of hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants who toil in Greece’s black labor market, Taleb had just finished cleaning the bakery where he worked one November morning on the island of Salamina when he sparked his boss’s fury.

What followed would end up symbolizing how migrants have become among the biggest and most defenseless victims of Greece’s economic crisis, facing racist attacks, police apathy and a system that punishes them rather than their assailants.