At least 21 people died in two boat incidents near Crete, Greek authorities said; the coastguard reported more than 100 rescues across operations, with two still missing from Saturday’s incident.
Early Monday, a Morocco-flagged container ship spotted a boat south of Crete. Coastguard crews brought 18 survivors and 12 bodies ashore; one person later died after being taken to a hospital.
Greek authorities said the boat may have spent days at sea and may have struggled to reach shore because of strong winds.
A separate boat was found off Crete’s southern coast Saturday evening. The coastguard rescued 28 people and recovered eight bodies, while two people from the boat remained missing.
Frontex, the European Union’s border agency, deployed an aircraft and an unmanned drone in locating two additional boats south of Crete. One had about 47 people aboard and the other about 40; survivors reached a port on the island’s southern coast.
