Nearly 200 more migrants reached Greece over the past 24 hours in small boats that had mostly left from north Africa, as well as three people who zoomed across from Turkey to the nearby eastern Aegean Sea island of Chios on a jet ski.
Just over 22,000 undocumented migrants have arrived in the country so far this year, compared to about 49,000 in the whole of 2025.
The Coast Guard said 39 people were found on a beach on southern Crete Thursday, and another 49 were rescued off a small boat south of the island. All had set off from the Tobruk area of eastern Libya, which has become the main springing board for undocumented migrants seeking to enter Greece by sea.
A Coast Guard statement also said that two teenage boys – aged 15 and 17 – from South Sudan were arrested for allegedly steering over from Tobruk, on behalf of smuggling rings, two small boats that reached Crete Wednesday carrying a total 80 migrants.
They faced charges of exposing their passengers to danger and assisting illegal entry to Greece.
