ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Four people, including two children, died Tuesday off the Greek island of Kos in an accident involving a migrant smuggling boat crossing from nearby Turkey, Greek authorities said.
A coast guard statement said 27 people were rescued and nobody was listed as missing. It said that according to survivors, the accident occurred when the person steering the small boat made a clumsy maneuver just off Kos.
Ten passengers fell into the water and two women and two children died, the coast guard said. The survivors were picked up by coast guard vessels.
Greek authorities are bracing for a possible surge in migrant arrivals due to the ongoing fighting in Lebanon and Gaza.
Earlier Tuesday, an official warned that wars in the Middle East and Africa, combined with the effects of climate change, will put Europe under continuous long-term pressure from immigration.
Sofia Voultepsi, a deputy minister for migration, also said a landmark European Union migration pact earlier this year remained lacking in practical terms.
“We got the (agreement), but the basic piece is still missing: Returns,” Voultepsi said. “We must have a common system for asylum, a common system for returns and a common system for integration.”
The EU migration pact is due to take effect in mid-2026 following a new round of negotiations with the bloc’s 27 member states expected to last about a year.
Voultepsi also expressed alarm at the growing number of refugees in Lebanon because of ongoing Israeli airstrikes targeting the militant group Hezbollah.
Greece is a major entry point for migrants into the EU, with most crossing from Turkey and Libya in unsafe boats.
Earlier Tuesday, the coast guard said 81 migrants were rescued from a stranded vessel traveling from Turkey to Italy. The rescue was carried out Sunday with the assistance of two merchant vessels. The rescued migrants told Greek authorities they had paid $8,500 each for the trip.
Elsewhere in Europe, an Italian navy ship was expected to dock at an Albanian port with a first group of 16 migrants intercepted in international waters. Their asylum applications will be processed in Albania instead of Italy under a five-year agreement between the two countries.
In Poland, Prime Minister Donald Tusk plans to temporarily suspend the right to asylum. The new migration policy was presented at Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
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