Twenty migrants were found dead and about 46 others were rescued in two incidents off the Greek island of Crete since the weekend, the coast guard said Monday, as strong winds complicated rescue efforts along an increasingly busy route from North Africa.
Twelve bodies were recovered from a boat about 15 nautical miles – roughly 28 kilometers or 18 miles – south of Crete early Monday. A passing Moroccan-flagged cargo ship rescued 18 people from the same vessel, the coast guard added.
The identities of those who died and the circumstances of their deaths were not immediately known.
The discovery followed a separate rescue operation launched late Saturday after another boat sent a distress signal amid strong winds and difficult sea conditions.
A nearby vessel picked up about 28 survivors and one body, all Sudanese nationals, authorities said Sunday. They were transferred to a police vessel and taken to Crete.
The coast guard located their boat overnight Sunday into Monday and found seven more bodies aboard, bringing the death toll from that incident to eight.
Authorities also reported rescuing passengers from two other boats south of Crete on Monday. One, carrying about 47 people, was spotted by an aircraft from the European Union’s border agency, Frontex. A Frontex drone located the second, which had about 40 people aboard.
Frontex rescued those aboard both vessels, and they were being taken to a port on Crete’s southern coast, the Greek coast guard said.
The island has become one of the main entry points into the EU for migrants departing from Libya. Thousands have attempted the dangerous sea crossing from North Africa in recent months, with boats frequently sinking or running into trouble.
Greece is a major gateway into the EU for people fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Others attempt the much shorter but often equally dangerous crossing from the Turkish coast to nearby Greek islands in the Aegean Sea, frequently aboard unseaworthy inflatable dinghies or other small vessels.
Last month, 12 people, including an infant, died when two boats traveling from Türkiye to the islands of Lesbos and Samos capsized.
Frontex said in October that the eastern Mediterranean was the busiest route for migrants attempting to enter the 27-nation EU, even as irregular border crossings into the bloc fell by a third during the first nine months of the year.
About 31,800 crossings were recorded along the eastern Mediterranean route in the first three quarters of 2026, down 15% from the same period a year earlier, the agency said.
The corridor from Libya to Crete was the busiest section of that route, ahead of the eastern Aegean islands and Greece’s land border with Türkiye.
