At least six people have died and more than a dozen are believed to be missing after a migrant boat capsized in the Aegean Sea, bringing the combined death toll from three accidents in as many days involving migrant boats in Greek waters to at least 20. The sinkings came as smugglers increasingly favour a perilous route from Turkey to Italy, which avoids Greece’s heavily patrolled eastern Aegean islands that for years were at the forefront of the country’s migration crisis. The coastguard said 57 people were rescued in Friday’s deadly incident after a sailboat capsized 8km (5 miles) off the island of Paros in the central Aegean. Survivors told the coastguard that about 80 people had been on the vessel. Five coastguard patrol boats, nine private vessels, a helicopter and a military transport plane continued the night-time search for more survivors, authorities said, while coastguard divers also participated. Smugglers based in Turkey increasingly have packed yachts with migrants and refugees and sent them toward Italy. Earlier, 11 people were confirmed dead after a sailboat struck a rocky islet about 235km (145 miles) south of Athens, near the island of Antikythera, on Thursday. The coastguard said on Friday that 52 men, 11 women and 27 children were rescued after spending hours on the islet. In a separate incident on Friday, Greek police arrested three people on smuggling charges and detained 92 migrants after a yacht ran aground in the southern Peloponnese region. And a search operation continued for a third day in the central Aegean, where a boat carrying migrants sank near the island of Folegandros, killing at least three people. Thirteen others were rescued, and the survivors reported that at least 17 people were missing. Authorities said the passengers were originally from Iraq.