Greek authorities say more than 170 migrants picked up as arrivals from Libya increase

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek authorities say more than 170 migrants have been picked up from rickety boats in the past three days with most found off the southern tip of the country in a route that appears to be increasingly used by traffickers.

Greece’s coast guard said Wednesday that a passing Philippines-flagged tanker had rescued 29 people found on a boat 65 nautical miles (120 kilometers, 75 miles) south of the southern island of Crete. Another 45 people were rescued overnight by a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship 42 nautical miles (78 kilometers, 49 miles) south of the tiny island of Gavdos.

A patrol boat on Tuesday came across a speedboat carrying migrants near the eastern island of Tilos, with a chase resulting in the speedboat driver running the vessel aground on a beach, the coast guard said. A foot patrol later located a total of 31 people, including seven children and four women, while authorities arrested a 37-year-old Moldovan national as the alleged driver.

Another 68 people were located in two separate cases in Crete and Gavdos Monday: 19 men and one boy found just having disembarked from on a wooden boat on the southern coast of Crete, and another 48 people, all men, found on Gavdos. In both cases, the migrants said they had set sail from Tobruk in Libya and had been heading to Greece.

For decades Greece has been on one of the preferred routes into the European Union for people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, and has seen a spike in arrivals from neighboring Turkey and the Libyan coast over the past year. In 2024, the country recorded more than 60,000 arrivals — the vast majority by sea — compared to just over 48,000 the previous year.

While most people head to eastern Greek islands from the nearby Turkish coast, many are now opting for the perilous 300-kilometer (200-mile) journey from the Libyan coast to the islands of Crete and Gavdos, officials have said.

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The Associated Press