Greece's coast guard has identified the bodies of eight migrants, including six children, who drowned near the island of Samos. This is the second migrant shipwreck in the Aegean Sea this November, according to authorities.
On Monday, Greek police found 36 more people alive in the northern part of Samos. Meanwhile, coast guard officers rescued three people who were trapped in a rocky area of the island, according to the coast guard, reports Al jazeera.
A Greek coast guard official said authorities were alerted about the incident by a nongovernmental organisation and estimated that about 50 people had been on board the vessel.
It was not immediately clear whether anyone else was still missing. The nationalities of the people on the boat were not known.
In a separate incident on the island of Lesbos, an elderly man died as a group of 27 migrants made landfall in a small boat, the coast guard said.
Greece, in the southeast corner of the European Union, has long been a favoured gateway to Europe for migrants and refugees from the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
More than one million crossed from Turkey to Greece’s outlying eastern islands in 2015-2016. Many have drowned while attempting the perilous journey in flimsy boats.
The number of arrivals later dropped before surging again on 2023.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) found that about 54,000 migrants reached Greece in 2024, the second largest number in southern Europe behind Italy. The vast majority of people arrived by sea.
However, many people have died while making the dangerous journey due to rough seas and through the use of flimsy boats.
Bd-pratidin English/ Afia
