Greece coastguard rescues migrants, recovers two bodies

A migrant is transferred to hospital as rescued migrants find shelter at a depot, following a shipwreck offshore in Kalamata , Greece [Costas Baltas – Anadolu Agency]

The coastguard service in Greece rescued 18 migrants close to a rocky shore on the island of Lesbos earlier today, Reuters has reported. The bodies of a woman and a man were also recovered.

The migrants are believed to have reached the island on a boat amid high winds in the Aegean Sea, said a coastguard official. According to the migrants’ accounts, there were about 36 people on board the vessel and some had jumped into the sea. Coastguards and police searched for more people onshore.

Greece was at the frontline of a migrant crisis in 2015 when more than one million people, mostly Syrian refugees, crossed from Turkiye to the European country by sea. Migrant flows dropped significantly before rising again in 2023.

READ: Greece joins US-led naval coalition to protect Red Sea shipping

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