ATHENS, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Dozens of people remained missing while 29 others were rescued after a boat carrying refugees and migrants sank off the island of Rhodes in the Aegean Sea during the night, Greece's coast guard said on Wednesday.
A search and rescue operation, involving two coast guard vessels, a Greek navy ship, three nearby ships and an Air Force helicopter, was still underway in the sea area south of Rhodes, Greek authorities said.
The operation was hampered by strong winds of up to 6 on the Beaufort scale blowing in the area.
The survivors said that the boat departed from Antalya, the largest city on the Turkish Mediterranean coast, two days ago with Italy as their final destination, and there were 60 to 80 people on board, according to an e-mailed press release from Greece's coast guard.
Since the mass flows of refugees and migrants started in 2015, over a million people have reached Greece. Most continued their journey to other European countries until the closure of borders along the Balkan route in the winter of 2016. ■