Greece has recovered the body of one migrant and rescued 25. They continue to search for at least four more believed missing after their boat sank off the island of Samos, the coastguard said on Sunday.
The rescued migrants were taken to a port facility on Samos, while a search and rescue operation for the missing continues, a coastguard official said on condition of anonymity.
In a separate incident, the coastguard located a speedboat with migrants sailing off the island of Chios on Saturday. Following a pursuit, Greek authorities found 20 migrants, including two children, who had landed on Chios.
Since 2015, Greece has been a preferred gateway to the European Union for migrants and refugees from the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. In 2015, nearly 1 million people arrived on its islands, mostly via neighboring Turkey.
Numbers dropped significantly before rising again last year to 41,561 arrivals by sea. So far this year, approximately 10,854 migrants have reached Greece by sea. [Reuters]
