Pylos

Three people, including a 15-year-old girl, died in less than 12 hours in two traffic accidents in different parts of the country.

The first deadly incident took place late on Monday night on the Methoni-Pylos road in the southwestern Peloponnese and involved a car, which was being driven by a 31-year-old man, crashing into the metal protection railing and a tree.

A common thread runs through the disasters of the past few months: Although the danger was evident, measures were not taken to avert it. At Tempe, Pylos, Nea Anchialos and in the Croatian hooligan raid bad systems conspired with incapable, indifferent, irresponsible officials to open the door to catastrophe.

Greek authorities said Friday they safely evacuated dozens of migrants from a sailboat reported in trouble off the southern coast of Greece, amid a rise in migration to the Mediterranean country.

A sailing boat with more than 100 people on board has been identified 43 nautical miles southwest of Pylos on Friday.

Four nearby vessels and a Hellenic Air Force are moving towards the sailing boat, along with three Hellenic Coast Guard ships.

There are strong northern winds in the area.

The Hellenic Coast Guard conducted a rescue operation off the coast of Pylos on Friday, rescuing 49 people stranded on a freight ship. The freight ship, flying under a Belize flag, was located 109 nautical miles southwest of Pylos.

Since Matloob Hussain from Pakistan went missing during a deadly shipwreck off Greece last month, his brother Adil has left the door of his Athens home open in the hope he appears. It will stay open until his body is found.

Twelve Pakistanis were among survivors from a boat packed with migrants that capsized off the coast of Greece this week, Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Saturday.

Ministry spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said the government was unable so far to verify the number of Pakistanis who died, or their identities.

Italy on Friday alerted Greece to a vessel holding dozens of migrants sailing off the southern coastal town of Pylos, two sources said, just two days after an overcrowded fishing boat sank nearby killing at least 78 people.

The same human trafficking ring responsible for Wednesday's shipwreck off Pylos in southern Greece had ferried people from Libya to Italy 18 times in two months, according to reports.

Europol's assistance has already been sought to dismantle the ring.

Greek anti-racist organizations, unions and others on Thursday staged rallies in cities including Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras, Karditsa and Kalamata, protesting the tragic shipwreck off the coast of the Peloponnese that cost the lives of at least 78 migrants.