Thirteen migrants die after boat sinks off Crete

At least 13 people have died after a boat carrying migrants sank off the coast of the Greek island of Crete, according to the BBC. Reuters reported that Greece retrieved the bodies of 13 migrants in a boat found off Crete, while CBS News stated authorities said dozens of migrants are dead and scores rescued from boats trying to reach Crete and Spain. ABC News reported that the death toll from a migrant boat found with bodies on board south of Greece increased to 14, and People.com reported that 12 migrant bodies were recovered from boats near Greece after the coast guard intercepted them.

The BBC reported that the coastguard rescued 18 people, all of whom were Sudanese nationals, with four of the survivors taken to hospital, including a toddler. An unnamed coastguard official who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity said the survivors were "shivering from the cold". According to the BBC, authorities said it was not immediately clear what caused the deaths, but they believe the boat had been at sea for days and had struggled to reach shore due to strong winds.

The migrants' boat was spotted by a Moroccan-flagged container ship about 15 nautical miles, or 28km, off Crete's coast, the BBC reported. The BBC added that the Greek coastguard rescued another 187 people in three separate incidents off the coast of Greece on Monday.

Crete remains one of several key gateways for migrants attempting to reach Europe from the Middle East and North Africa, with more than 22,000 of the 86,400 sea arrivals so far this year landing in Crete alone, the BBC reported. UN figures cited by the BBC show that more than 37,000 migrants have arrived in Greece so far this year, already surpassing the number who arrived in the entirety of 2025.

The BBC noted that the Greek government has announced plans to deal with the influx, including opening a temporary housing complex near the Cretan capital, Heraklion. Greece was at the heart of Europe's migration crisis in 2015-16, when nearly a million people arrived on its islands, mostly from Turkey, but crossings from Libya have surged in recent years, particularly among people fleeing conflict in Sudan and seeking better economic opportunities from countries including Bangladesh, according to the BBC.