ATHENS: Twenty-two migrants hoping to reach Europe from North Africa have died off the coast of Greece after six days at sea in a rubber boat, survivors told the Greek Coast Guard on Saturday.
The Coast Guard said 26 people, including a woman and a minor, were rescued by a European border agency vessel off the island of Crete.
The Coast Guard later told AFP that 21 Bangladeshis, four South Sudanese, and a Chadian citizen had emerged from the ordeal alive.
Survivors said the bodies of those who had died were thrown into the Mediterranean Sea on the orders of one of the people smugglers aboard the ship.
Two survivors were taken to a hospital in Heraklion on Crete, the Coast Guard said.
