The collision took place off the eastern Aegean island of Chios on Tuesday, the Greek coast guard said late that day as a search and rescue operation was underway for potentially missing passengers.
The coast guard said 14 people were recovered from the sea, including 11 men and three women. It also said 25 migrants, among them about 11 children, were rescued and transported to a hospital on Chios.
The coast guard said two coast guard officers were injured. It later added that one of the injured women died in hospital, bringing the total death toll to at least 15.
Officials said the number of people aboard the speedboat was not immediately clear, and the search included four patrol vessels plus an air force helicopter and a private boat carrying divers, according to the coast guard.
Video footage broadcast by a local news site showed people being brought from the scene toward coast guard vehicles with blue flashing lights, including two children who appeared to be walking toward a car and one person carried on a blanket from a boat moored near a jetty.
In a statement on Greece’s Open TV channel, Michalis Giannakos, head of Greece’s public hospital workers’ union, said hospital staff on Chios were on alert to handle the influx of injured people and were prepared for potentially more arrivals. He said several of the injured required surgery.
The incident unfolded in a broader context in which Greece serves as a major entry point into the European Union for people fleeing conflict and poverty in parts of the Middle East, Africa and Asia. The short crossing from the Turkish coast to nearby Greek islands in the eastern Aegean has repeatedly proved perilous, and fatal accidents have occurred with regularity, while Greece has increased patrols.
Greece’s migration approach has also drawn criticism, including allegations of pushbacks—summary deportations without allowing people to apply for asylum—by Greek authorities. Greece and other EU countries have simultaneously tightened their migration rules, with the European Union overhauling its migration system in December, including measures that streamlined deportations and increased detentions.