Twenty-two undocumented immigrants, among them three children, drowned and a dozen were still missing on Monday, after the capsize of a sail boat off the eastern Aegean Sea island of Samos, according to Greek Coast Guard officials.

The number of casualties has risen dramatically over the past hour, as the Coast Guard tugged the capsized boat to the port and recovered several bodies of people who had been trapped inside, according to local officials and journalists.

An official announcement by the Coast Guard with the latest information was due later on Monday afternoon.

A total of 36 people have been rescued so far during an operation in which Greek Coast Guard and Frontex boats, a Greek Navy ship, a cruise ship and three fishing boats are participating.

Seven people, including a child, were hospitalized suffering mostly from hypothermia.

According to survivors, there were approximately 60 to 65 people on board the overloaded yacht which was sailing from Turkey to Greece. The sail boat was accompanied by another speed boat with smugglers on board, according to Coast Guard sources.

The circumstances of the tragedy have not been clarified yet. When the boat overturned weather conditions in the area were good.

According to survivors, most passengers were Somalis.

Thousands of migrants seek to enter EU illegally via Greece each year and hundreds perished in such tragedies in the Aegean Sea.

During the past weekend in a joint rescue operation with Malta, Greek Coast Guard saved 147 migrants who were on board a vessel in the Mediterranean Sea. Endi

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