Greek authorities rescued 147 migrants trying to reach the country in small boats

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities rescued nearly 150 migrants trying to reach the country by sea in small boats over a 24-hour period, officials said Wednesday, including one that had 115 people crammed into it.

A coast guard statement said the vessel was located in distress Tuesday off the eastern Aegean Sea island of Lesbos that’s close to the Turkish coast. Three patrol vessels picked up 67 men, 27 women and 21 children, who were taken to a migrant reception center on Lesbos.

The boat sank shortly after the passengers were taken off it, the statement said. It was one of the largest single boatloads of migrants to reach the island from Turkey in recent months.

Smugglers typically target Greek islands close to Turkey’s coastline, but in recent months they have increasingly chosen longer routes from Libya to Crete, much farther south, and from Turkey through the central Aegean Sea, where coast guard patrols are more relaxed.

The coast guard also said Wednesday that 25 men and seven boys were rescued from a boat having difficulty 30 nautical miles (35 miles) south of Crete. It quoted the migrants as saying they had spent three days crossing the Mediterranean Sea after boarding the vessel in eastern Libya.

Two of the men were arrested on suspicion of belonging to a migrant smuggling ring that had organized the voyage.

On Tuesday, the coast guard said a total 146 migrants had been rescued in small boats off Crete and in the eastern Aegean.

According to data from the United Nations refugee agency, nearly 30,000 migrants have arrived illegally in Greece so far this year, slightly fewer than in Italy and Spain. Most are Afghan, Syrian or Egyptian nationals.

The number of migrants arriving illegally in Greece has eased slightly this year following a post-pandemic spike in 2023.

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