ATHENS, Greece (AP) – Rescuers searched the Mediterranean Sea Thursday near Greece’s southernmost island for two people who were reported missing when A boat carrying 100 migrants sank the previous day, the Greek Coast Guard said.
On Wednesday, the body of one man was recovered from the sea, and a passing Turkish-flagged cargo ship rescued 97 people. The coast guard said on Thursday that the survivors – 85 men, two women and 10 minors – were taken to Crete, where one woman was hospitalized.
Greek authorities said they had arrested two survivors, men aged 26 and 24, on suspicion of smuggling. According to the Coast Guard, survivors said they left for Greece from Tobruk, Libya, last Sunday and that they paid between 7,000 and 10,000 euros per person. The cause of the boat’s sinking was not immediately clear.
At the beginning of the week, two women and two children died off the coast of the Greek island of Kos when a smuggling boat from nearby Turkey capsized. Another 27 people were saved.
Greece lies on a popular route to the European Union for people fleeing war and poverty in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and tens of thousands of people make their way to the Greek islands, usually by smuggling boats from the nearby Turkish coast or making the longer and longer treacherous journey across the Sea Mediterranean from North Africa.
According to data from the United Nations Refugee Agency, more than 42,000 migrants arrived in Greece in early October, the vast majority of whom arrived by sea.
As search and rescue operations continue off the coast of southern Greece, European Union leaders met in Brussels discuss migration, looking for ways to make the bloc a more hostile destination for migrants and asylum seekers amid a recent surge in support for the far right, which has stoked opposition to foreigners.