A Greek coastguard vessel and a boat carrying migrants have collided in the Aegean sea, killing 15 people, authorities said Wednesday, updating the previous toll.

The incident occurred Tuesday off the island of Chios, near Turkey.
“The pilot of a high-speed boat without navigation lights and carrying foreign passengers failed to comply with the Coast Guard’s visual and audible signals,” according to a Coast Guard statement.

“Instead, the pilot turned around, and the boat then collided with the starboard side of the Coast Guard patrol boat,” the statement said, adding that “the force of the impact caused the boat to capsize and sink”.

Fourteen bodies were retrieved from the sea, including three women. Another woman who was plucked out alive later died of her injuries, the coastguard said.

Among those rescued were 11 children who have been taken to hospital, along with two injured coastguards.

Rescuers in five boats and a helicopter were scouring the sea early Wednesday for any other survivors or victims. Authorities said the total number of people aboard the migrant boat was unknown.

Large numbers of migrants seek to cross the Mediterranean each year to reach Europe.

The UN refugee agency said in November that more than 1,700 people died or went missing in 2025 on migration routes to Europe in the Mediterranean and in the Atlantic off the coast of west Africa.

The International Organization for Migration says about 33,000 migrants have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean since 2014.