Russia says one of its warships rescued 68 passengers from boat in Mediterranean

[June 19, 2023]  MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian warship and cargo ship rescued 68 people overnight from a boat in the Mediterranean Sea, Russia's Defence Ministry said on Monday. 

It said in a statement that the Admiral Gorshkov warship had been the first to receive a distress call from the Avalon, which it described as a "yacht-type vessel" flying the Greek and German flags.

The Gorshkov and the cargo vessel, the Pizhma, carried out a successful rescue operation and the passengers were given medical assistance and transferred to Greek coastguard boats off the island of Kalymnos, the statement said.

It gave no details of the passengers or their nationalities.

The Admiral Gorshkov is one of Russia's leading warships and has been used in the past to test and deploy hypersonic missiles. It was not clear what weaponry it was carrying at the time of the incident.

Hundreds of people, mostly from Egypt, Syria and Pakistan, are feared to have drowned in a boat capsize off Greece last week.

(Reporting by Reuters, writing by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

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