A collision between a speedboat carrying migrants and a Greek coast guard vessel near the eastern Aegean island of Chios killed at least 15 people, the coast guard said on Tuesday, as a search and rescue operation involving patrol boats, a helicopter and divers continued to search for people who may have gone missing.
The bodies of 14 people – 11 men and three women – were pulled from the sea, the coast guard said, while another 25 migrants, including about 11 children, were rescued and taken to a hospital in Chios, along with two coast guard officers who were injured in the incident.
One of the injured women later died in hospital, the coast guard said, bringing the death toll to at least 15.
The number of people aboard the speedboat was not yet clear, and a search and rescue operation involving four patrol vessels, a helicopter and a private boat carrying divers was underway for passengers who may have been lost.
Video taken by a local news site showed at least one person being carried off a boat in a blanket strapped to the side of the plane into a coast guard vehicle with green lights, as others were seen leading two children, one of whom was limping, to the vehicle.
Konstantinos Anagnostou/REUTERS
The Coast Guard did not have more information about how the collision happened.
Michalis Giannakos, head of the union of public hospital workers in Greece, said that hospital workers in Chios were all aware of the sudden influx of injured people and were expecting more people. Speaking on Greece’s Open TV channel, Giannakos said that many of the injured required surgery.
Greece is a major entry point into the European Union for people fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Fatal accidents they are common things. Many make the short but often dangerous crossing from the Turkish coast to nearby Greek islands in the eastern Aegean. But increased round-ups and allegations of refoulements – summary deportations without allowing asylum applications – by Greek authorities have reduced attempts to cross.
Greece, along with many other countries in the European Union, has been tightening its immigration laws. In December, the European Union overhauled its migration policy, including postponing deportations and increasing detention.
There has long been a heated debate among EU members about migration. Since the surge of asylum seekers and other migrants to Europe over the past decade, the public debate on the issue has changed and right-wing parties have gained political power. EU migration policies have been tightened, and the number of asylum seekers has fallen to record levels.
Konstantinos Anagnostou/REUTERS 
Last month, the United Nations’ migration agency warned hundreds of migrants may be lost at sea or feared dead following reports of shipwrecks in the central Mediterranean in January.
The International Organization for Migration said it was “deeply concerned” by the reports, which it was working to confirm.
“Many boats are believed to have been involved in the past 10 days, and initial information indicates that hundreds of people are missing at sea or feared dead,” the statement said.
“In the first weeks of 2026, hundreds of people are already feared missing,” the IOM statement said, warning that “the final number could be much higher.”
The IOM emphasized that the Central Mediterranean remains the deadliest corridor in the world, with at least 1,340 people losing their lives there last year alone.
Between 2014 and 2025, more than 33,000 migrants died or went missing in the Mediterranean, according to the IOM’s Missing Migrants Project.
