Yacht sinks off Greek island, all 18 rescued

All 18 people including three children on board a British-flagged yacht were rescued on Thursday after it sank during strong winds off the coast of the Greek island of Milos, the coastguard said.

“The 18 shipwrecked, all Greeks, are safe and have been transferred to the island of Milos,” an official from the coastguard’s media office told AFP.

Three patrol boats, a passenger ship and two helicopters took part in the rescue operation in the Aegean, supported by two other choppers, one of which was from the Greek air force, the official said.

The passenger ship was enlisted to help the shipwrecked, the coastguard said, adding that a nearby cargo ship and an air force plane also assisted in the operation.

The yacht was reported to be 28-metres (92-feet) long.

Winds of up to 40 kilometres an hour were recorded on Thursday in the area where the yacht sank, 16 nautical miles from Milos, a Cyclades island popular with tourists.

Milos is not far from the island of Falkonera, off which the SS Heraklion ferry sank in 1966, killing 273 people.