ATHENS — Greek authorities recovered the bodies of 12 people from a boat carrying migrants found sailing south of the island of Crete early on Monday, November 9, while a passing Moroccan-flagged cargo ship rescued 18 people from the same vessel, Greece's coast guard said, the Associated Press and Reuters reported.
Source: Associated Press, Nov 9 2026
The boat was found about 15 nautical miles — about 28 kilometres — south of Crete, off Kaloi Limenes on the island's southern coast, on Monday morning. A coast guard patrol vessel took the 18 survivors aboard and recovered the bodies, and was heading for the port of Agia Galini. The coast guard gave no details about the identities of the 12 people who died, or the circumstances of their deaths, and said the weather in the area was good at the time.
Source: Reuters, Nov 9 2026
Two more boats found overnight
In two separate operations overnight, a boat carrying about 47 people was spotted some 30 nautical miles south of Kaloi Limenes by an aircraft from Frontex, the European Union's border agency, and another boat with about 40 people on board was located by a Frontex drone about 31 nautical miles to the southeast. Everyone on both boats was picked up by Frontex vessels and was being taken to Kaloi Limenes. In all, about 117 people were found in the three operations, of whom 105 were rescued alive, the coast guard said.
Source: Associated Press, Nov 9 2026
A crossing that has grown busier — and deadlier
Thousands of people have tried the crossing from North Africa to Crete in recent months, most of them setting off from eastern Libya. Others take the shorter but often equally dangerous route from Turkey to Greece's Aegean islands in dinghies or small boats. Greece is preparing for a possible migration crisis on Crete: Migration and Asylum Minister Thanos Plevris has said about 1,700 people arrived from Libya in the first three days of November alone.
Source: Associated Press, Nov 9 2026
Last month, 12 people, including an infant, died when two boats heading from Turkey to Lesbos and Samos capsized — a separate tragedy on the Aegean route. Frontex said in October that the eastern Mediterranean was the busiest route into the European Union, with about 31,800 crossings recorded in the first three quarters of 2026, 15 percent fewer than in the same period last year, and that the Libya-to-Crete corridor was the busiest part of that route.
Source: Associated Press, Nov 9 2026
What is solid
- Greek authorities recovered 12 bodies from a migrant boat found about 15 nautical miles south of Crete early on Monday, and 18 people were rescued from the same vessel by a passing Moroccan-flagged cargo ship — Greek coast guard, via AP and Reuters.
- Two further boats, carrying about 47 and about 40 people, were found south of Crete overnight and everyone aboard was rescued by Frontex; about 117 people were found in total and 105 were rescued alive — coast guard, via AP.
What is only claimed
- How the 12 people died is not yet established: the coast guard has released no identities and no cause, and said the weather in the area was good at the time — so no account of the deaths should be treated as settled until Greek authorities report further.
The survivors from all three boats were being taken to ports on Crete's southern coast. Watch for the coast guard's identification of the dead and any statement on how they died, for Frontex and Greek government figures on November arrivals from Libya, and for whether Athens announces new measures for Crete as arrivals climb.
For Punjabi and Indian families, the Mediterranean crossing is a distant story with a close echo: the same desperation that pushes people onto boats from Libya drives the agent-and-donkey-route traffic out of Punjab, and every such tragedy is a reminder of what unsafe migration costs. Greece, like Canada and other destination countries, is tightening its doors even as the boats keep coming — the two facts now define migration politics on both sides of the Atlantic.
Source: Associated Press, Nov 9 2026