Lesvos coast guard rescues 43 refugees including paraplegic woman

Coast guard officers on Friday rescued a 18-year old paraplegic woman along with another 42 other refugees, mostly from Syria, off the coast of Lesvos.

The rescuers also managed to recover the woman's wheelchair which had been submerged as the smuggling vessel let on water.

Lesvos authorities were notified early in the morning that a dinghy with migrants and refugees was foundering of the island's coast.

A patrol vessel was dispatched to the scene and found the boat with 42 people, among them 11 women and three children. The disabled woman's mother and sister was among them.