Athens (AFP) – Twenty-one migrants have been found dead off the coast of the Greek island of Crete in the last two days, the Greek coast guard announced to AFP on Monday, while Athens said it was preparing for a migratory “crisis” on this island.

Published on: 09/11/2026 - 2:10 p.m.

On Monday, 12 bodies were discovered in a boat off the coast of Crete, the gateway to the European Union for many people who left Libya in search of asylum.

Another body was found Monday afternoon. 18 other passengers were on the same boat, found south of the southern coast of Crete, the coastguard press office said.

Autopsies must be carried out to determine the causes of death of these people, who "appear to have been at sea for several days", according to the same source.

Previously, during a rescue operation made difficult by bad weather conditions, eight other people had already been found dead in the same area south of Crete, the coast guard said on Sunday.

28 people, of Sudanese nationality, were rescued during this operation, according to port authorities.

But the operation to tow the boat "proved to be absolutely impossible and extremely dangerous due to (...) the violent winds", according to the same source.

During the night from Sunday to Monday, "a coast guard rescue vessel found the boat 10 nautical miles" (18.5 km) south of Crete, said the coast guard, according to which "seven bodies were still on board".

Perilous crossings

According to survivors cited by the Greek authorities, these people left Libya on November 3 or 4.

Two Sudanese aged 28 and 16 were arrested after being designated by other migrants as the suspected smugglers, according to the same source.

A total of 105 people were rescued on Monday by the coast guard and a ship from the European border surveillance agency Frontex in three different operations, according to port authorities.

Accidents and shipwrecks are increasing off the coast of Crete, caused by perilous crossings often with violent winds and rough seas.

Greek Migration Minister Thanos Plevris, a former far-right official now a member of the ruling conservative party, said on television Friday that Greece was preparing "for a crisis in Crete."

“Migration flows have increased since July (...) but in the first days of November, the increase is even stronger,” he described, “with around 1,700 arrivals” over the first three days of the month.

“In October, we (already) reached a peak with 5,000 arrivals,” he said on the ANT1 channel.

He blamed the Libyan authorities, deploring a "total lack of cooperation" since the beginning of November to stop migrant boats leaving their shores.

Last Wednesday, Greek port police tried to find 59 migrants missing after a shipwreck off the same island of Crete, according to statements from a survivor.

The latter, a 23-year-old Bangladeshi, was rescued on Wednesday on the uninhabited islet of Chrissi, 15 km south of the southeast coast of Crete.

He explained to the coast guard that the boat on which he was with 59 other people had capsized, throwing all its occupants into the sea.

The searches yielded no results, according to the Coast Guard.

According to the UN High Commission for Refugees, more than 37,000 migrant arrivals have been recorded in Greece in 2026 so far, including more than 22,000 in Crete, the country's largest island.

Faced with this pressure on Crete, which does not have camps, the Greek government has announced that it wants to open a new temporary accommodation structure near Heraklion, the island's main city.

Twelve migrants also died on October 19 off the Greek islands of Lesbos and Samos, including six in a collision with a coast guard boat.

© 2026 AFP

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