At least 22 people are dead after two boats capsized off the coast of Greece in the Aegean Sea on Monday, officials said.
The boats were full of migrant families trying to enter Greece when it turned over in the waters near the Greek island of Samos, the Associated Press reported. Rescue teams were able to save 36 of the boats' passengers, which left from Turkey. Seven more passengers are believed to still be missing.
"We can't give a precise number of missing people with any certainty," Nikos Lagadianos, a coast guard spokesman, told the AP.
Those who survived, from Somalia, Eritrea and Syria, said nearly 65 people were on both boats.
The nationalities of the migrants who drowned, including three children, were not immediately known, the AP reported. Most of the bodies were found inside the yacht after it was towed to Samos.
It is also not immediately clear why the two boats, a yacht and dinghy, capsized. But boats carrying migrants seeking to enter parts of Europe are often overcrowded, the BBC reported. The boats often leave from Turkey, where traffickers charge thousands of dollars to carry families hoping to escape conflict at home.
"It is vital to understand what it is that routinely brings thousands of migrants to trust smugglers, face exorbitant costs, and risk their lives on unseaworthy vessels," Maurizio Albahari, a migration expert and assistant anthropology professor at the University of Notre Dame, told the AP.
"It is legally impossible for them to travel safely on planes and ferries. But they risk...many dangers to escape despair, and are prepared to die in order to set off with new hope," the professor said.
Migrants and refugees often travel to Greece in attempts to reach other parts of the European Union, the BBC reported. But there has been a recent influx of migrants traveling by boat ever since August 2012 when Greece increased security on its land border with Turkey.
