The body of 17-year old Iraqi boy was found after a shooting incident aboard a yacht carrying around 70 migrants near the Greek island of Symi on Saturday. The incident took place after a Latvian patrol vessel deployed in operation Poseidon Sea detected the yacht on early Saturday afternoon in Symi Island’s Marathounta Bay.
Upon detection by the Latvian vessel, the yacht changed course and began heading for Turkey, ignoring all signals to stop. When approached, it tried to ram the Latvian vessel. With the help of the Hellenic Coast Guard that arrived on the spot, the yacht was stopped and Greek officers boarded the vessel while the Latvian patrol vessel remained at a distance. Aboard, the skipper of the yacht attacked the Greek officers, injuring one of them. During the incident, shots were fired. One of the smugglers was also injured. Later a body of the 17-year-old was discovered aboard. The body was immediately taken to a hospital on the island of Rhodes for an autopsy.
Operation Poseidon Sea is carried out at the sea border between Greece and Turkey in the Aegean Sea. Frontex supports Greek authorities by deploying a number of vessels, aircraft, helicopters and thermal vision vehicles from over 10 EU/Schengen member states. Since the beginning of the year, more than 179 000 migrants arrived in the Aegean islands from Turkey.