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A Hellenic Coast Guard vessel with rescued migrants onboard prepares to moor at the port of Mytilene, following a shipwreck in which four migrants drowned, off the island of Lesbos, Greece, August 28, 2023. /Reuters
Five people, including an 11-month-old girl, died Monday, and 54 people were rescued when two migrant boats sank off Greece, officials said.
The first capsizing took place around 3:00 a.m. (0000 GMT) off the island of Samos near the Turkish border. The coastguard rescued 37 people, including a woman who had died, government spokesperson Pavlos Marinakis and the coastguard said.
About four hours later, another boat sank near the Greek island of Lesbos. Four migrants died, including an 8-year-old boy and three girls, aged 11 months, 8 years and 14 years, Marinakis said.
Greece has been at the forefront of the refugee and migrant influx into Europe since 2015, and hundreds have perished in the Aegean Sea in the past eight years.
More than 15,600 people have arrived in Greece this year, according to data from the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR, nearly 12,000 of them by sea.
In June, hundreds of people drowned in international waters off Greece after the fishing trawler they were traveling on capsized en route to Italy from Libya.
Following a strict migration policy, Greece has stepped up patrols in the Aegean Sea between Greece and Türkiye with the help of the European Border Surveillance Agency, Frontex.
(With input from agencies)
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Disinformation report hotline: 010-85061466