Greece: 29 people picked up from boat in distress

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s coast guard says more than two dozen people have been picked up from a sailboat in distress far off the southwestern coast of the Greek mainland and have been transported to the southern city of Kalamata. The coast guard said on Wednesday that its search and rescue center was notified Monday night about a boat in trouble with 29 people on board, 84 nautical miles southwest of the town of Pilos, in Greece’s southern Peloponnese region. The passengers — 10 men, one woman and 18 minors from Afghanistan, Iran and Bangladesh — were picked up by a Norwegian-flagged research vessel. The boat had set sail from the Turkish coast and was likely heading to Italy, the coast guard said.