More than 100 migrants have been rescued off the southern island of Crete after crossing from Libya in small boats, Greek authorities said Thursday, while another group was located on the islet of Gavdos where they had just landed.
The Coast Guard also said that 32 people who had been rescued off a small boat on Tuesday some 62 nautical miles south-southwest of Cape Tainaro at the southern tip of the Greek mainland had also set off from Libya, but from the port of Benghazi.
That’s further west than where most small boats carrying migrants to Greece leave from, and could indicate the beginning of a new route. So far, the vast majority depart the eastern port of Tobruk and head for Crete or Gavdos, which is off Crete’s southern shore.
Two Egyptian men were arrested on suspicion of working for a smuggling ring that organised the migrants’ passage.
A total 146 people were rescued from small boats in trouble in two separate incidents about 60 nautical miles south of Crete Wednesday, the Coast Guard said, or picked up on a Gavdos beach.
