About 190 migrants were located by the Coast Guard on board a rudderless vessel, about 95 nautical miles southeast of Karpathos on Tuesday morning. Reportedly there are about 60 children and a huge large number of elderly on board.

The Coast Guard was contacted early on Tuesday morning by migrants on board the Mara, a Togo-flagged cargo ship, via the 112 hotline, that they required assistance.

The 13-meter cargo shop is being tugged the port of Sitia in Crete, where the migrants will be further processed.