At least 21 migrants and refugees die trying to reach Greece’s Crete

At least 21 people have died while trying to reach the Greek island of Crete, a key hub for refugees and migrants trying to reach Europe, authorities said.

The Greek coastguard said it recovered 12 bodies and rescued 18 people from one boat that was spotted by a Morocco-flagged container ship south of the island early on Monday. It said it had taken the survivors and the dead to shore. One person taken to hospital later died.

It was not immediately clear what had caused the deaths but Greek authorities said the boat may have been at sea for days, struggling to reach the shore due to strong winds.

In a separate incident, the Greek coastguard recovered eight bodies and rescued 28 refugees and migrants from a boat off southern Crete on Saturday evening. Two people are still missing.

Two other boats, one carrying about 47 people and another with about 40 people on board, were also found sailing south of Crete.

The European Union’s border agency Frontex used an aircraft and an unmanned drone to locate the boats, before taking survivors to a port on the southern coast of Crete.

Crete has become one of the main entry points into the EU for people fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Frontex said irregular border crossings into the bloc were down by a third so far this year.

The agency said that about 31,800 crossings were recorded in the first three quarters of 2026, a fall of 15 percent compared with the same period last year.