The police said they had been alerted to the boat by coastal surveillance and managed to save everyone on board.
The people “were very scared and nervous. The men did not obey the police orders and wanted to be rescued before the women and children”, the police communiqué said, adding that there were 13 infants and children, 10 women and 33 men on the sinking boat.
“The group also contained a five-month pregnant woman, a paraplegic man, a man with kidney trouble and one of the children is suspected of having meningitis”, the police added.
The Portuguese maritime police have so far rescued almost 3,700 men, women and children from the sea between Turkey and the Greek islands.