At least 16 people died and several others were rescued when a boat carrying migrants capsized off the island of Paros on Friday, the Greek coast guard said.

Rescuers recovered bodies of 12 men, three women and an infant from the area, the nation's semi-official Athens News Agency reported.

Several coast guard vessels and a helicopter searched for survivors overnight.

This is thought to be the third shipwreck this week involving migrants in Greek waters.

Greek outlet Athens News Agency reported that 80 people were believed to have been on what was described as a sailboat.

The circumstances under which it capsized were unclear.

What other shipwrecks were there this week?

Greek authorities said they had rescued 90 people and recovered 11 bodies from another shipwreck, when a sailboat sank off of a small uninhabited island in southern Greece on Thursday.

A boat thought to have been carrying up to 50 migrants sank off the island of Folegandros on Tuesday night. Dozens remain missing.

Greek shipping minister Giannis Plakiotakis said in a statement that trafficking gangs were responsible for the disasters.

The gangs "are indifferent to human life, stacking dozens of people, without lifejackets, in vessels which do not conform to the most basic of safety standards," he said.

The deadly accidents come as smugglers have begun to favor a more dangerous route from Turkey to Italy. This route bypasses the heavily patrolled eastern Aegean islands, which had long been at the forefront of Greece's migration crisis.

Smugglers in Turkey fill yachts with migrants and send them toward Italy.

Why are migrants coming to Greece?

Greece is a popular entry point into the European Union for people fleeing conflict and poverty in Asia and Africa.

Arrivals to Greece have decreased over the last two years as the country extended a wall at its border with Turkey and began intercepting migrant boats, a tactic criticized by human rights groups.

"People need safe alternatives to these perilous crossings" the Greek office of the United Nations Refugee Agency, UNCHR, said in a tweet.

More than 116,000 asylum-seekers crossed the Mediterranean to reach EU countries this year, according to the UNCHR.

sdi/rs (AP, Reuters)