At least 16 migrants dead in shipwreck off Lesbos

The Greek coastguard said the dinghy had left the Turkish coast carrying 40 people in very high winds. 

At least 16 migrant women died when their vessel sank off the Greek island of Lesbos in the central Aegean Sea early this morning, in the second maritime disaster involving migrants in less than a day, the country's coast guard said.

The sunken boat was carrying about 40 people, the coast guard said, citing people that had been rescued so far.

There were 16 bodies recovered, a coast guard official said. Another nine women were rescued and about 15 people were missing.