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

At least 21 migrants and refugees have died while trying to reach the Greek island of Crete, a key hub for people seeking to enter Europe. Greece's coastguard said more than 100 people were rescued in several operations off the southern coast of the island.

Early on Monday, a Morocco-flagged container ship spotted a boat south of the island. The Greek coastguard went to the scene, recovered 12 bodies and rescued 18 people alive from the boat.

The survivors and the dead were taken to shore. One person taken to hospital later died, bringing the death toll from that boat to 13.

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 because of strong winds.

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