Greece: Boat carrying 97 migrants stranded in shallow water off southern island

A sailboat carrying dozens of migrants ran aground on rocks on a southern Greek island early on Wednesday, authorities said. Nobody was reported injured or missing.

The coast guard said the sailboat had 97 people on board. It did not have details of their nationalities.

Local news website KytheraNews reported they were believed to be from Afghanistan, and included five women and five children aged between 3 and 12.

The website published photos of a sailboat with its bow on the rocks and a video and photos of a large group of people walking from a small harbour up a street and past white-washed houses.

It was not immediately clear where the vessel had set sail from, and when.

The most common sea route into European Union member Greece for asylum-seekers from the Middle East, Asia and Africa has long been from Turkey to the nearby Greek islands in the Aegean Sea.

But with Greek authorities increasing patrols in the area and facing persistent reports of summarily deporting new arrivals to Turkey without allowing them to apply for asylum, many are now attempting the much longer, and more dangerous, route directly to Italy.

Greek authorities deny they carry out illegal summary deportations of asylum-seekers.