Peshraw Abdullah, a representative of the Returning Migrants' Association in Greece, told Rudaw five of the 20 people were Kurds.
“Three of the Kurds were rescued while two others lost their lives,” Abdullah added, noting that the victims were from Kurdistan Region’s Sulaimani province.
A total of four people, a girl and three women, were killed in the shipwreck, according to To Vima, a Greek news outlet.
The Hellenic Coastguard has started search and rescue operations to find the missing individuals.
Every year, tens of thousands of people from Iraq and the Kurdistan Region seek to escape endless crises of lack of employment, political instability, and corruption by joining thousands of others from scores of countries taking perilous routes to Europe.
Around 20,000 people from Iraq and the Kurdistan Region migrated out of the country in 2023, with at least nine of them losing their lives on the dangerous and illegal smuggling routes, according to the Lutka Foundation for Refugees and Displaced Affairs.
On Thursday, a “first-of-its-kind” security agreement was signed between Iraq and the UK to enhance the cooperation over Iraq and the Kurdistan Region’s border security with an investment of £800,000 from the British government to curb people smuggling, according to an announcement from the British home office.
Niyaz Musfata contributed to this report.
