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last mo.

22 Migrants Reported Dead After Six Days Adrift as 26 Are Rescued Off Crete

Greek prosecutors opened a negligent homicide case based on survivor accounts from the drifting boat.

Vingt-six personnes, dont une femme et un mineur, ont pu être secourues par un bateau de l’agence européenne des frontières Frontex au large de l’île grecque de Crète jeudi 26 mars à la mi-journée.
Des migrants débarquent d'un bateau au port de Kali Limenes, à Héraklion, dans le sud de la Crète, le 21 février 2026
Le nombre de migrants morts en tentant de rejoindre l'Union européenne a plus que doublé au cours des deux premiers mois de 2026, comparé à l'année dernière, a indiqué à la mi-mars Frontex
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Overview

  • A Frontex patrol rescued 26 people near Crete on Thursday, the Greek coast guard said.
  • Survivors reported that 22 others died during the six-day ordeal and that a smuggler ordered the bodies thrown into the sea.
  • Greek authorities arrested two South Sudanese men, aged 19 and 22, on suspicion of smuggling and charged them with illegal entry and negligent homicide.
  • The rubber boat left the Tobruk area of eastern Libya on March 21 bound for Greece and, after losing its course in rough weather, drifted without water or food in what a coast guard spokesman said led to deaths by exhaustion.
  • The rescued group included a woman and a minor, two survivors were hospitalized in Heraklion, and EU figures show about 660 people died in the Mediterranean in January and February 2026.